'Weight-loss jab helped me find my cancer'

A woman who discovered she had breast cancer after losing more than two stone using Mounjaro has said the jab "saved her life".

Rebecca Combellack was diagnosed with cancer after losing weight on Mounjaro

Following her weight loss, Rebecca Combellack, from Sutton Bonington in Nottinghamshire, was diagnosed with stage two cancer in May 2025 after finding a lump in her breast earlier that month.

The 37‑year‑old said doctors told her she was lucky to have lost weight, as she would have struggled to feel the lump if she had been heavier.

"The cancer was fast‑acting, and if I'd left it even six months, the outcome could have been much worse," she added.

Mounjaro works as an appetite suppressant by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1, which makes people feel fuller. It also affects metabolism and helps regulate energy balance.

The most common side effects include nausea, vomiting, bloating, constipation and diarrhoea, while some report hair loss and in rare cases gallbladder and kidney problems and depression.

Rebecca started taking the GLP-1 medication in April 2025 after weighing herself during a skiing holiday.

"I stepped on to measure the boots and the skis," she said. "And I was the same weight as my husband, so I was like: 'Right, I've got to lose the weight'."

Rebecca lost more than two stone (12.7kg) in two months, and said the weight-loss revealed a small lump deep in her rib cage.

Scans and biopsies followed, and a week and a half later she was given a diagnosis of oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer.

Rebecca has had surgery and is now undergoing chemotherapy

About 80 out of every 100 breast cancer cases, external are oestrogen receptor positive, which means the tumour contains receptors sensitive to the hormone, which causes the cancer cells to grow and divide.

"I went from feeling great from losing weight to 'oh God, I've got cancer'," she said.

"Hearing those three words really does shake you up. It just all felt like a bad dream."

The design and marketing business woman has since had an operation to remove the lump in her breast and began chemotherapy in August 2025.

"I've just tried to see this as another challenge that's added to our normal life," Rebecca said.

"We've just continued with life, hobbies, kids as normal.

"I've worked all this time for my business, even through treatment, because that's how we get through."

Rebecca and her husband Richard Combellack, 44, have said they have turned their attention to charity work to help them keep going.

Richard said: "We just don't want anyone to have to go through this type of cancer.

"She has to be on a hormone blocker for the rest of her life, which brings on early menopause, meaning we can't have any more kids.

"The menopause will have to be cold turkey because she can't have any hormones like HRT.

"It's so tough, but she's coped extremely well."

Rebecca and Richard are raising thousands of pounds for charity

The pair have raised tens of thousands of pounds for charities Breast Cancer Now and CoppaFeel.

Richard, who has had a passion for ice hockey since he was a child and currently plays for the Nottingham Knights, organised a charity match at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena on Sunday.

Richard said: "It's a horrible thing at Bex's young age to have to go through, so if we can stop one person, one single person, having to go through this journey, and finding it earlier would stop that, then it's a win for us, so that's why it really means something to us. "

For Rebecca, it is about staying positive and helping others that is helping her through the gruelling treatment.

"I've just got to carry on laughing," she said. "It's how we get through."

Original Article: Weight-loss jab Mounjaro 'helped Nottinghamshire woman find cancer' - BBC News