A woman discovered that she had incurable breast cancer which she believes was caused by her lifestyle.
Bisma Lalji was given the devastating cancer diagnosis February 2023, despite believing that she led a healthy life.
Just 35-years-old at the time, she was told about her stage four breast cancer diagnosis, with the disease spreading to her bones in her upper body.
Bisma’s spine, ribs and liver were affected by the spread, as she explained that her only symptom before her diagnosis was a sharp pain in her spine.
It was found via tests that the American’s aggressive cancer originated from a one centimetre tumour in her right breast.
The California-native, now 37, revealed on social media that she was pregnant before making a massive decision about her health condition, explaining it all on Instagram.
Bisma is a physically fit woman who works in finance, though as her cancer developed, she adopted an unhealthy, stressful lifestyle.
Bisma claimed that her condition was caused by stress (Instagram/@bismalalji)
This involved a lot of caffeine, all-nighters, and running on adrenaline, with her admitting that she was ‘barely stopping to eat, let alone sleep’.
Speaking in an Instagram post, Bisma claimed that it was her stressful lifestyle that led to her cancer diagnosis, saying: “Chronic stress is a silent killer. It disrupts your hormones, weakens your immune system, and stops your body from doing what it’s designed to do — heal.”
She added that the human body needs sleep to recover and minimise inflammation, and said that as she was ‘constantly in in flight-or-flight mode’, her cells simply couldn’t heal.
“Add a divorce into the mix, and the weight of my personal and professional life hit me like a ton of bricks,” she explained. “But I kept pushing. Kept telling myself I’d rest ‘later’.”
Bisma has advised others to learn from her mistake, and if they do find themselves in a similar situation, to take a moment to rest.
She said she regrets not slowing down and refusing to listen to her body, and said that she would even boast that she had no sleep ‘like a badge of honour’.
Cancer Research UK revealed that there is no direct link between stress and cancer (Instagram/@bismalalji)
She urged: “If you’re constantly running on empty, please hear me — your health is not worth the hustle. If you don’t make time for your wellness, you’ll be forced to make time for your illness.”
Now, she has revealed that due to a number of targeted cancer drugs, her condition is ‘stable’, though she previously explained the predicament she faced on her YouTube channel: “So on top of like a stage four cancer diagnosis if I want to live I have to terminate my pregnancy.”
While Bisma has highlighted stress as a factor in her diagnosis, Cancer Research UK has shared that there is no link between stress and cancer.
On the official website, it reads: “There is no strong evidence for stress causing cancer from studies of people.”
Instead, stress can change someone’s ability to live a healthy lifestyle, which can change everyday behaviour and increase cancer risk through changes in these habits.
A Cancer Research UK study about 100,000 British women didn’t find a link between stress and cancer, though it found that people that were stressed were more likely to smoke, drink alcohol and eat more unhealthy food.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.