16-year-old Feels Lump the Size of a Ping-Pong Ball in Her Breast — but It Wasn't Breast Cancer (Exclusive)

Rowan Addison was 11 years old when she first noticed a small lump in her left breast. “I showed my mom,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively. At the next appointment, she and her mom mentioned the pea-sized lump to the pediatrician, who said it was probably puberty-related.

“It wasn’t a big concern,” the Henderson, North Carolina, native remembers. “I just ignored it. And I was also scared because I automatically thought of the worst. Part of me didn’t even want to have it checked.”

By the ninth grade, the lump had grown to the size of a grape. Rowan went for an ultrasound and was told there was nothing to worry about – but if it got bigger she should come back and they could talk about having it removed.

“I just started ignoring it again,” she says. But the summer before her junior year of high school, she noticed that the lump had nearly doubled in size. It was almost the size of a table tennis ball. And the skin around him started to pinch.

Addison Rowan.

Courtesy of Addison Rowan

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The volleyball captain was referred to Duke University Hospital for a biopsy in September 2021. There, she was told there was less than a 1% chance it was cancer.

“The doctor said, ‘I’m not making any promises, but you’re so young.’ He says: ‘You are 16 years old. There is very little chance that this will be cancerous. It is probably a benign fibroadenoma tumor,’ she says.

A week later, on September 27, 2021, she came home from a volleyball game to find her parents crying.

They told her she had cancer.

“I immediately started sizzling,” she says. “I just froze. I probably didn’t speak for 20 minutes. I was so shocked.”

Addison Rowan.

Courtesy of Addison Rowan

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Rowan was diagnosed with alveolar soft tissue sarcoma, a very rare, slow-growing, malignant sarcoma that usually starts in the legs or arms, sometimes in the neck.

“They were really shocked that it was in my breast,” Rowan remembers. The doctors told her that she was the second medically reported case in history (and the second case was an elderly woman).

This is a rare form of rare sarcoma, her surgical oncologist, Dr. Laura Rosenberger, associate professor of surgery at Duke University Hospital, tells PEOPLE.

“This would not be considered ‘breast cancer’. This is a sarcoma, and sarcomas are soft tissue tumors. They can come from bone, muscle, fat, connective tissue and can occur anywhere in the body. They are quite rare – this one is especially rare,” explains Rosenberger.

Addison Rowan.

Courtesy of Addison Rowan

In the week following Rowan’s surgery, her volleyball team hosted a sold-out “pink out” game.

“People really supported me in my town,” she says. “A ton of people came.”

It was standing room only, she says. “It was probably the best volleyball match I’ve played in my entire life. I was just trying to do my best because I literally didn’t know if I would ever be able to play again,” she says. “My whole team rallied around me and they dedicated the game to me.”

Her team won the game. Three days later, on October 19, 2021, Rowan had a six-hour operation. The sarcoma has spread beyond the tumor into the surrounding breast tissue and near the ribs. Tissue was taken from the skin on her back to reconstruct the breast, and one of her latissimus dorsi was rotated. Surgeons had to collapse one of her lungs and remove a rib.

“When I woke up, I was in a lot of pain. I didn’t even know there was such a strong pain,” says Rowan. “I was very scared because I had never felt such pain before. I literally kept asking my parents. I asked myself, ‘Am I going to be okay? Am I going to make it?'”

Addison Rowan.

Courtesy of Addison Rowan

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Fortunately, the doctors were able to remove all the cancer. Rowan committed herself to physical and occupational therapy so she could return to the volleyball court.

That recovery process wasn’t easy, Rosenberger says, adding that it required more rehabilitation than open-heart surgery or a total hip replacement.

“I really witnessed firsthand her tenacity and determination,” says the doctor. “Addison is just full of life, a positive spirit, and I think she’s been fantastic because of that.” This month, the 19-year-old sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill celebrates her 3-year anniversary of being cancer-free. “Now we’re all on the exhale,” says Rosenberger.

“I’ve learned that I’m definitely stronger than I thought I was,” Rowan says. “I brought out the strongest version of myself. That’s what helped me beat the odds.”

Rowan missed college volleyball recruiting due to her recovery, but was able to play club volleyball in March.

“Now my body is almost back to normal,” she says. “I honestly feel stronger than I was before.”

The biology student still goes to the doctor for tests and examinations every six months.

Addison Rowan.

Courtesy of Addison Rowan

And her journey with cancer inspired her in unexpected ways. He is considering studying oncology or pathology. “After everything I’ve been through, I want to learn more and help people,” she says.

As she looks to her future, she hopes her story will inspire others battling cancer.

“Cancer can be very devastating,” she says. “Focus on what you can control instead of what is out of your hands. It’s important not to fixate on negative things.”

Her strategy worked.

“No matter what the odds are, no matter how rare the condition you have, at the end of the day you control your story and your future,” she says. “When you feel like everything is against you, don’t let it defeat you and define you. You can make an effort and change your future.”

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Source: HIS Education