Mrs Haddock has twice developed malignant tumours in her breast tissue without developing this better-known warning sign.

Both times the cancer was caught before it spread to the lymph node, a potential bullet that Mrs Haddock considers herself exceedingly lucky to have twice dodged.

Her friend Pat Turner has also survived breast cancer, although it was with a very different experience to Mrs Haddock’s.

Mrs Turner discovered she had breast cancer after visiting a mobile breast-screen unit at the council car park in February 2008. Since then she has lived through 14 months of chemotherapy as treatment for the HER-2 type of cancer she contracted.

Mrs Turner also took a drug called herceptin that increases rates of survival and response in patients with this form of breast cancer. It almost halves the instance of relapse when it is combined with chemotherapy.

Both Mrs Turner and Mrs Haddock said they could not put enough emphasis on how important it was that they had their cancers detected early.

“Early detection is vital,” Mrs Haddock said.

“You have to be very vigilant. I had no lumps, I didn’t feel a thing. I had a mammogram and was told I needed a biopsy, which is how they detected the cancer,” she said.

Mrs Turner said she was lucky that she had visited the breast-screen unit six months before her next regular check-up - a six-month headstart in the fight against the disease.

Mrs Turner said she lost her hair and much of her self-esteem during the treatment, but the biggest blow to her came with the death of her husband in the days after she began chemotherapy.

In those dark days Mrs Turner said she looked to the support of her family and friends to help her in her fight, and found rock in her relationship with Mrs Haddock - a person she described as her greatest supporter.