A 30-year-old YouTuber's breast cancer was dismissed as a cyst, but she had a 'gut-wrenching feeling something was wrong'

• Tess Christine was worried about the lump in her breast that didn't disappear when the new mom's milk supply ran dry.
• Her doctor told her not to worry, and that it was likely a cyst. Christine said she pushed for a mammogram.

When Tess Christine noticed a lump in her left breast, she didn't panic. She was weaning her son Theo off of breastfeeding, and was used to her chest's changing shape.

But when the 30-year-old lifestyle influencer in New York was depleted of milk, it was still there. And when she got her period, she experienced a "throbbing pain" in the breast. "I was like, 'What the heck is going on?'" she shared in a recent YouTube video about her experience.

So about a month after her initial symptom, she scheduled an appointment with her primary-care physician. She says the doctor reassured her that the lump felt like a cyst, and told her not to worry. Typically, the doctor said, cancer doesn't hurt.

But Christine says she pushed for a mammagram and a sonogram to be sure. "I still just had this gut-wrenching feeling that something was wrong and I just kept thinking the worst. And maybe that was because I had Theo, and I was just like, 'Oh my god, I can't have cancer. I have this new baby who needs me,'" she said.

When the radiologist called her with her results, "my heart just sank because I just knew I was getting called into the consultation room for some reason other than 'it's nothing,'" Christine said in her video.

Sure enough, the doctor said the lump was not a cyst and wanted to do a biopsy to find out what it was. A few days post-biopsy, Christine said, "I got a call that made my world just stop." She had invasive ductal carcinoma, the most common type of breast cancer.

Fortunately, additional findings showed the cancer hadn't spread to her lymph nodes or right breast. She's since undergone a double-mastectomy with partial reconstruction, and is waiting to learn if she'll need any further treatments.

"The best news I could have gotten out of all of this is this is curable and I'm going ot be OK, and I'm just so thankful for that," Christine said.

She said she's speaking out to encourage other people to listen to their guts.

"It's so important to be your own advocate," Christine said. "If you feel like something is wrong or you feel uncomfortable about a lump or something and you want a test, ask for it."

"If you ever felt unsure about something or like you wanted to get something checked," she added, "maybe this is your sign to do so."