A young woman has warned people to "listen to your body" after doctors mistook her cancer for "being tall".

Brooke Bailey, 23, was diagnosed with tendonitis and prescribed physiotherapy when she went to see her doctor for her hip pain. It is claimed medics blamed it on her "being tall" and sitting in the salon chair all day in her role as nail technician.

After multiple trips to different doctors in Northampton, Pennsylvania, Brooke claims the pain worsened, leaving her unable to do the physio. Doctors ordered her an MRI scan which, on October 13, showed she had two tumours; one in her femur and one in her groin. The nail technician was diagnosed with stage four Ewing sarcoma, a type of soft tissue cancer.

Now undergoing chemotherapy, Brooke is urging people to push for a second opinion if they feel like they are being dismissed by their doctors.

• 'I couldn't get upstairs without gasping for air — and the truth was devastating'

• 'It's my first Christmas with my sperm donor baby — he doesn't need a dad'

Brooke, from Pennsylvania, said: "In the beginning it was more of an aching, throbbing, on-and-off type of pain. Then as time went on, it was radiating and getting worse. It went through my whole leg even down to my ankle.

"Some days were worse than others and I tried to figure out what was triggering it but at the time I didn't know what it was. Some days the pain would be a three and others it would be a seven. The doctors had mentioned that it could be because of my job. They said 'you're young and you're tall, maybe it's your job'."

Despite receiving the devastating diagnosis, Brooke said she was "scared but relieved" to find out what was finally wrong after months of visits to different doctors. Brooke said: "I was going to my doctors once a month, on top of other appointments.

"I was seeing them a lot and they weren't giving me the right answers and I wasn't getting a diagnosis. When they finally did an MRI and told me [that it was cancer] I was scared and I was nervous.

"I never thought in my mind that it was cancer, so it was scary but I kind of felt relieved too because I was like 'I'm not crazy, there is something wrong and I knew it the whole time'.

"I'd been struggling in pain for six or seven months at that point. I was like 'what's next? I'm ready to start the healing process because I want my life back'."

Brooke is due to undergo six rounds of chemotherapy, which will be reviewed by doctors in January to assess if she requires surgery to remove the tumour. Now, Brooke is encouraging people to push for a second opinion if they feel unwell.

Brooke said: "I've learned that you really are your biggest advocate for yourself and if you don't like what somebody says, go see somebody else. I wish that's what I had done.

"You are your person and you need to take care of yourself. If that means seeing a different doctor because you don't like what the first one said to you then so be it.

"You might have to really push and request certain tests and certain imaging then that's fine but make sure they're documenting that you are requesting it and if they're approving it or denying it.

"You really need to be kind of forceful when it comes to it, which is sad but if you know that there's something wrong with you, then you know.

"I knew that there was something wrong with me, I didn't know that it was cancer, but I knew deep down inside that there was something wrong. I think the biggest takeaway from this is to listen to your body."

Brooke's mum Marissa Koons set up a GoFundMe page before she started chemotherapy to cover the cost of an egg retrieval procedure, so she has the option of having children in future.

The fundraiser is still accepting donations to help cover the cost of accommodation and travel while Brooke is receiving treatment. Marissa, 43, said: "We used that money for the egg retrieval because the insurance didn't cover that at all.

"It exceeded the goal and we're at over $7,000 now which has helped us to pay for the egg retrieval without me going into my credit card debt.

"I had to stay at a hotel for this round of chemo, the travel, prescriptions, it really did help but most of it went to the egg retrieval because that really did need to be taken care of."

To donate to Brooke's GoFundMe page, visit this link.