I was shaving my legs when I felt a pea-sized bump – three doctors told me not to worry but then a fourth discovered something far more sinister…

Jade Cook was just 21 when she moved to Queensland from England and was given a fatal cancer diagnosis – all after visiting three separate doctors who insisted she was ‘perfectly healthy’.

The now 34-year-old mother was working as a spa therapist on cruise ships in Europe when she first noticed a pea-sized lump on her thigh while shaving her legs.

‘I had it checked on board and was told to wait until I got back on shore. Then it was checked again and the doctors thought it was just a cyst,” Jade told FEMAIL. “Several doctors told us to leave it alone and see if it goes away.”

“None of the doctors did an ultrasound or biopsy,” she said. ‘There were no scans. They kept poking at it to see if anything would come out. Looking back, I’m very angry about the way I was fired.’

The lump had grown to the size of a golf ball and was starting to throb by the time she decided to get it checked for the fourth time.

‘I went with my friend in Australia to the doctor who needed a prescription and begged them to do something about it. Finally, she decided to take it off and send it in for testing. Then it turned out that it wasn’t just a cyst, but a tumor that had started to spread.’

Jade then had to have her chest and the rest of her body closely checked for signs of cancer.

‘I was in a new country, I didn’t know anyone and I had a tumor growing inside me, with no idea if it was getting worse. The doctors told me there was a high risk of it spreading to my bones, which would have been fatal,” she said.

“If there’s one message I can get out there, it’s to take your health seriously. If you feel a lump or something suspicious, insist on an ultrasound or a biopsy, even if this conflicts with your doctor. It’s better to be safe than sorry.’

Jade had to wait five months for surgery – all the while worried the cancer would spread.

Unfortunately, because doctors determined the cancer was a sarcoma, there was no explanation as to why this happened.

Sarcoma is a form of cancer that can occur in different parts of the body

Scientists don’t know exactly what causes most soft tissue sarcomas, but they have found some risk factors that may make a person more likely to develop them.

Jade had to wait five months for surgery – all the while worried the cancer would spread

‘I wasn’t very well informed about my health, but I didn’t do anything bad. I didn’t smoke, drink, do drugs.

‘People kept telling me that I didn’t need to exercise or watch what I ate because I was naturally slimmer, but that’s just not true. Exercise, getting your heart rate up and being able to consume the right things are all important. It is important to be able to work on your mindset.’

She started radiotherapy in October 2012, after the wounds from the surgery had healed.

“One of the hardest things to get through physically was the radiation – it’s like someone having a blowtorch to your leg – and I had it every day from Monday to Friday for six weeks,” said Jade.

‘It’s like they burned my leg and increased the intensity as I went through the treatment. At first it just felt like a sunburn, then it felt more painful.”

She slept without a duvet and the doctors advised against putting bandages on her leg because the skin was so sensitive that it simply ‘peeling off’.

The side effects of the radiation became so bad that she could not walk or work for an entire month.

The side effects of the radiation became so bad that Jade could not walk or work for an entire month

At the time, Jade had no friends except for one woman who worked with her on the cruise ships.

‘I did meet someone, but it was a bit scary for him: we had only been together for a few weeks and suddenly I got cancer. In retrospect, I can understand why he was a bit distant.

‘But he introduced me to his family and they were absolutely incredible.

‘They took me, his mother, under their wing and took me to hospital appointments. His sister and brother were studying to be nurses, so they offered to bandage me for practice.

“I met a few more friends along the way and their families cooked me dinner and invited me to hang out.”

The friends Jade made along the way became her “second family” and support system.

“I just had to stay mentally strong and push through it. Everyone kept telling me to go home, but I don’t have much money; I didn’t have enough to move back my whole life.

“I felt like my dream of coming to Australia and starting a business would end before it started if I moved back.”

Jade ran salons for seven years before moving into the e-commerce side of the business with Brow Bible Academy, offering online beauty therapy courses and beauty products

Jade worked a casual job as a spa therapist to pay for her rent and treatments while she navigated her cancer journey.

She eventually started her own company in the eyebrow industry and turned into a beauty mogul.

“I’ve always wanted to open my own business and it felt like this was the perfect time because there wasn’t much competition, so I rented a space and was fully booked after five months,” she said.

From there she opened her own salon, eventually hiring eight staff and then opening a second salon in Cairns with 14 staff.

She owned the salons for seven years before moving into the e-commerce side of the business with Brow Bible Academy, which offered online beauty therapy courses and beauty products.

In 2020, when Covid hit and millions of people had to leave their homes, the brand made more than $30,000 in one week.