I was 33 and super-fit when I received a ‘death sentence’ cancer diagnosis. I had only one symptom – and millions ignore it every day

Elle Sproll knew the feeling well. In fact, it was so familiar, she barely registered it.

The then 32-year-old was training for a marathon – a distance she’d run many times before. She was also working full time in marketing for a major bank and and had an active (read: boozy) social life.

‘I’d train for four hours on a Saturday morning, grab a quick shower, then meet a friend for brunch,’ she tells Daily Mail Australia.

‘That would turn into a few afternoon wines, then a late night of socialising and drinking.’

From Monday to Thursday, Sydney-based Elle would travel to Melbourne for back-to-back work meetings, squeezing in early morning training runs and after-work drinks.

She was tired. No, beyond tired. Exhausted. 

‘I was fitter than I’d ever been but I was also chronically exhausted – but who wouldn’t be with the amount I was doing?’ she says.

The day before her 33rd birthday, Elle grabbed an early dinner with her friend ahead of her planned celebrations the following day.

During the meal, her friend casually mentioned she was going get a lump in her breast checked the next week, and so when she got home that night, with that conversation top of mind, Elle decided to check her own breasts. 

‘I found a 2cm lump in my right breast, a little larger than a pea – and I knew I hadn’t felt it there before,’ she explains.

‘I was immediately concerned because two years earlier, I’d had a big health scare.’

After suffering with headaches for months, a CT scan had revealed cysts on Elle’s brain. After close monitoring it was determined they were benign, but she knew better than most not to wait to get things checked. 

The next day – her birthday – she was unable to put it out of her mind. 

‘My mum rang to sing Happy Birthday to me and I had to tell her because I just had a really bad feeling,’ she says. 

Throughout her birthday dinner and drinks, she couldn’t shake the feeling it was going to be terrible news.

The next day, she went to the Sydney Breast Clinic for what she hoped would be a quick appointment, but ended up spending the day there having a scan, a mammogram and then a biopsy.

‘I knew that wasn’t a good sign,’ she says. ‘I just had this feeling I wasn’t going to be okay.’

The next day she was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most aggressive kind of breast cancer, and particularly rare.

It is considered so serious that a diagnosis is usually a death sentence.

‘My world turned upside down in a second,’ she says. ‘It was devastating.’

‘Fatigue was the only symptom I had and what 30-something woman isn’t tired?’ 

Before Elle could even see an oncologist, she was asked if she wanted to freeze her eggs.

Single at the time, she said: ‘I don’t care about kids, I just want to survive.’ But realising she might want the option in future, she underwent the procedure.

She then saw an oncologist who explained with triple-negative breast cancer, chemo is performed prior to surgery in the hope of killing off the aggressive cancer before the tumour is removed.

‘I had 16 rounds of chemo. I lost my hair, my eyebrows, my eyelashes… I had the immune system of a baby,’ she says.

Initially she made progress: the tumour began to shrink in response to the chemo. But by the end of the course of treatment, it was growing again. 

‘[The tumour] became resistant to chemotherapy,’ Elle says. ‘It was the first time I fully understood just how aggressive this cancer was.’

Although the tumour was then removed with clear margins, Elle’s oncologist said the cancer was ‘very much alive’ upon its removal, meaning Elle had an extremely high chance of the cancer returning, particularly in the next two years.

‘I was heartbroken, and terrified of dying,’ she says. 

While she underwent radiotherapy, another form of chemo and immunotherapy, Elle was determined to give herself the best possible chance of the cancer staying away. 

Through thorough scientific research, she realised that many lifestyle factors – including her diet, stress levels and the amount of alcohol she drank – were known to increase cancer risk. 

‘I started by cutting down the amount I drank per month, then per week, before eventually going completely sober,’ she says. 

Elle also adopted an anti-inflammatory, Mediterranean-inspired diet, increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables she was eating, as well as adding olive oil, nuts, seeds and beans to her diet. 

‘Even though I was fit, I didn’t realise the amount of exercise I was doing with no rest was really stressing my nervous system,’ she says.

‘I really needed to do the inner work, to start looking after myself and love myself.’

Following treatment and a complete lifestyle overhaul, Elle has now been cancer free for more than five years. 

‘The biggest risk of triple negative is it coming back in the first two years,’ she says.

‘That risk reduces after three years, then when you get past five years, you’re basically just as at risk of getting another cancer – which is maybe not the most positive way to put it!’

But in other words, Elle, now 38, sees herself as cured. 

She also ditched her stressful corporate job and started a business, Own Your Health, in which she works with female cancer patients to help them understand the lifestyle factors that can give them the best possible outcome.

‘It’s really special to be able to help women who are terrified like I was,’ she says. 

As well as cancer patients, Elle also works with women who are burnt out and looking to make positive, healthy changes. ‘Getting sick is a wake-up call for so many,’ she adds.

‘But I also help women make changes before they get there.’