The horror health condition hiding in a new bride's wedding photos

A New Zealand woman has revealed how she spotted her own breast cancer in a photo from her wedding day, sharing a warning to other young women.

Madeleine Kyrke-Smith, from Wellington, had noticed a lump in her breast years before she got married but was told it wasn't cancerous.

By the time the young bride tied the knot, the lump in her breast had grown so big it was clearly visible in her strapless wedding dress.

Looking back on wedding photos, one snap of Kyrke-Smith dancing on what should have been the happiest night of her life revealed the lump she had been told couldn't be cancerous.

"The day after we got this photo, I found out that the lump right there was actually breast cancer," Kyrke-Smith wrote as she shared the image on Facebook.

"It was so big you can see it. I have my last chemo infusion on Friday and am having a double mastectomy in July.

"I have no idea how much of this treatment could have been avoided, but it was misdiagnosed three years ago so I'm gonna say probably a fair bit."

Kyrke-Smith explained the lump wasn't recognised as cancerous because "most" lumps in young women's breasts aren't cancer, or at least that's what many people assume.

Because of her young age, Kyrke-Smith said best practice for biopsies was not followed, meaning she wasn't diagnosed until three years after the lump first appeared.

It's a horrifying reality many young women with cancer concerns face, as young breast cancer patients and survivors often report disbelief that they have cancer as young as their early twenties.

But Kyrke-Smith wants that to change, sharing a list of important information she wants women to know if they ever find a lump in their breasts.

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"A cancerous lump in a 30-year-old boob will feel different and move differently than a cancerous lump in an older boob. Just because it moves, doesn't mean it isn't cancer," she warned.

"You generally can't get mammograms as the tissue is too dense and ultrasounds don't give you a full picture, you need an MRI.

"Insist on a guided core-needle biopsy, a fine-needle aspiration is not good enough and is not best practice."

In her post, Kyrke-Smith went on to say she had made a formal complaint to the professional standards team at the Medical Council of NZ in the hopes of changing breast cancer procedures for young women.

She's hopeful that – if things change – stories like hers will become far less common.

Even though she's looking at the end of her chemotherapy and full recovery ahead, Kyrke-Smith knows she's one of the lucky ones.

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She was able to afford the best care possible, had plenty of support professionally and personally, and has been "smothered in love" throughout her treatment.

But some women aren't that lucky, and Kyrke-Smith wants people to keep sharing her information in the hopes fewer young women have to go through what she battled, and what many women don't survive.