The author, Miranda Levy, was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 58 after a routine mammogram screening revealed an invasive tumor in her left breast. She weighed around 11st 3lb (BMI 28.7) and had been trying to lose weight with the help of the drug Mounjaro. According to Dr. Naren Basu, a consultant breast and oncoplastic surgeon, being overweight is a modifiable risk factor for breast cancer, particularly in post-menopausal women, as it can lead to chronic inflammation and hormonal changes that promote tumor growth. Levy's BMI fell into the "overweight" category, leading her to wonder if her weight was a contributing factor to her diagnosis.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-27,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Far more difficult to cope with were the preceding two weeks, after the radiologist suggested the dark patch she could see on the ultrasound was ‘worrying’ and needed a biopsy.
uncertain
she → cope → biopsy
My heart did a cold plunge to the floor.
asserted
heart → do → floor
What kind of ‘worrying’, I wondered, as I scrutinised her poker face for clues.
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I → wonder → clues
As any of the one in seven women who receive a breast cancer diagnosis will testify, ‘worrying’ (see also ‘concerning’ or ‘suspicious’) covers a wide spectrum of outcomes.
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worrying → receive → outcomes
During the fortnight between my biopsy and the in-person results, that single word haunted my nights and obsessed my days.
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word → haunt → days
My gut instinct told me this was cancer, and I fell down a dark Google rabbit-hole of grades and stages and how it really wouldn’t suit me to lose my big, curly hair to chemotherapy.
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it → tell → chemotherapy
At 1am, I lay awake stressing about rare genetic mutations.
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I → lie → mutations
Even Chat GPT started to tell me to get off Chat GPT and enjoy the summer.
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GPT → start → summer
In the end, my gut was right: the surgeon told me I did, indeed, have an invasive tumour in my left breast.
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I → tell → breast
But because it had been caught early on a routine mammogram screening – I hadn’t once felt a lump – it was small.
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it → catch → lump
The cancer was low-grade, hormone-positive and had not spread to my lymph nodes.
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cancer → spread → nodes
My fear turned to relief and a sense of resolve: I would get over it.
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I → turn → it
As I write, I am recovering from a lumpectomy and waiting to see an oncologist to arrange a short course of radiotherapy.
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I → write → radiotherapy
After being told a dark patch on her ultrasound looked 'worrying', Miranda Levy started worrying about her health and the possibility of cancer
But once I knew I was out of the woods, I began to ask a question: why did I, at 58, get breast cancer in the first place?
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I → tell → place
Was it something I had done?
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I → do → ?
I was fit and healthy at the time of diagnosis, but I weighed too much.
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I → weigh → much
In fact, because the pounds were stubbornly refusing to shift, a few months before, I’d started to use the weight-loss drug, Mounjaro.
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I → refuse → drug
(At my first surgical appointment, I told the consultant I was on the jab.
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I → tell → jab
‘Good!’ he said.
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he → say → ?
‘We encourage you to keep using it.’)
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We → encourage → it
And, yes, being overweight undoubtedly raises your risk of breast cancer, especially in post-menopausal women.
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being → raise → women
‘When it comes to breast cancer, there are two types of risk – fixed and modifiable,’ says Mr Naren Basu, a consultant breast and oncoplastic surgeon, and associate professor at the University of Birmingham.
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Basu → come → Birmingham
‘Fixed risks include ageing – 80 per cent of breast cancers are in women over 50.
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cent → fix → 50
Fat cells produce a state of chronic low-grade inflammation, resulting in cellular processes that can promote tumour growth and spread.
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that → produce → growth
Excess fat causes a state of insulin resistance and can lead to hormonal changes including excess oestrogen production.
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fat → cause → production
’
Weight gain during perimenopause, carried over to the menopause, is particularly detrimental, he adds.
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he → carry → menopause
Miranda began to wonder if her weight had contributed to her cancer diagnosis (seen in 2020)
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weight → begin → 2020
I began to wonder just how damaging my weight had been.
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weight → begin → ?
If I’d started Mounjaro earlier, would I have even got cancer in the first place?
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I → start → place
My size had only become a problem in the past ten years.
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size → become → years
Until my mid-40s, I’d never weighed more than 7st 11lb and was a slim and sporty size 8 to 10.
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I → weigh → 7st
I spent the 1990s and 2000s working as a women’s magazine journalist, tottering about in designer clothes and Chloe heels.
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I → spend → clothes
But in 2010, when I was 42 and the mother of two primary school-age children, my life imploded.
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life → implode → children
My husband told me he wanted to end our marriage, and I was plunged into a whirl of insomnia, anxiety and depression which eventually became so severe I lost my job and had to go back to live with my father in Essex.
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I → tell → Essex
In their attempts to treat me, doctors put me on a dizzying array of psychiatric drugs which included various antidepressants such as venlafaxine and mirtazapine, tranquillisers, and even – at one point – an antipsychotic called olanzapine, which they said would ‘augment’ the antidepressants.
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they → treat → antidepressants
It didn’t.
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It → do → ?
None of these pills made me feel better: in fact, they made me feel worse, muddle-headed and agitated.
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me → make → fact
I also started to put on an enormous amount of weight.
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I → start → weight
The pills made me crave carbohydrates: I remember once ripping open a packet of Scottish shortbread biscuits, devouring four, going halfway up the stairs, then saying: oh, what the hell, and going back down again to finish the pack.
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I → make → pack
This is one of the reasons why this week’s news that a record one in seven people in England are on antidepressants should alarm us all.
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people → alarm → us
…and 70 more, not listed.
