This photo of LEMONS informed a woman that she had breast cancer

A woman has shared the photo that informed her she had breast cancer before she had even set foot inside of a hospital.

Erin Smith Chieze posted the photo of lemons, each one displaying a physical mark of breast cancer, in a bid to raise awareness of those symptoms visible to the naked eye.

In the post, Erin explained that she was sharing the photo in response to a new social media trend calling on women to post a heart icon on their pages, to raise awareness for breast cancer.

She explained that she first came across this photo in 2015, and when she discovered an indentation similar to that on one of the lemons, she "instantly knew" she had breast cancer.

While Erin couldn’t feel a tumour in her breast, she knew she needed to see a doctor.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer five days later, and her status was placed at Stage 4 a month later.

“A heart did nothing for awareness. I knew what breast cancer was. I knew all about self-exams, but a picture of what to look for keyed me into knowing I had a terminal disease. We need to give REAL information, not cute hearts,” she wrote.

Now, Erin is calling on women everywhere to study the photo and share it with their friends and loved ones.

“If you truly want to help people with cancer, or those who will get cancer, share photos like this one. I wish I remembered who posted the original picture I saw; it truly did make a difference for me,” she added.

Such an important picture, please share it with everyone you know.