Big up the sisterhood

As part of Breast Cancer Awareness month, the Young and Wasted blog will be sharing some  real life stories from women who have suffered with breast cancer, in an attempt to urge women young and old to check themselves regularly. Today Jenny White tells her story about her own personal battle.

 

“I was two months short of forty five years old when I discovered that I had breast cancer. I been moving lots of rubbish into a skip in our garden and when I went to shower I noticed a discharge on my bra. I checked my breasts and found nothing else out of the ordinary, but I knew that the discharge was not normal for me. Typically it was 6pm on a Friday night and so I spent the whole weekend worrying about what I had found before I managed to see a doctor on the Monday morning. The lady that I saw was absolutely lovely, but she couldn’t find anything abnormal either, although when I suggested that I might have knocked my breast causing infection and asked for antibiotics, she told me that in all conscience she couldn’t just let me walk away without first referring me to a ‘One Stop’ clinic at my local hospital to get checked out. They guaranteed to see patients within two weeks.

I received my appointment within ten days of seeing the doctor and underwent a mammogram followed by an ultrasound and a guided biopsy under ultrasound. The mammogram had shown up a small black mass and this was what they took at the biopsy. All of this was relatively painless, although there was a certain loss of dignity to it all.

 I waited a week for the results. I felt utterly numb and quite frankly, I’d basically planned my funeral as I knew deep down inside that it had to be cancer.

 When the results did finally come back, the consultant that I saw was very clinical. His people skills weren’t the best and he didn’t even look me in the eye as he said; “Mrs White, it seems you have breast cancer.” My first reaction was to get up and wash my hands in the sink in his room – totally bizarre!

 Following my diagnosis I had two operations. The first was to remove the tumour/mass and a node that was a bit higher up to see if that was cancerous too. The results that returned ten days later revealed that they hadn’t taken enough away and so they had to operate again. The doctors also suggested I had all my lymph nodes removed, which they then did four weeks later. After another four weeks I started chemotherapy for eighteen weeks. I then underwent twenty sessions of radiotherapy.

As my tumour tested positive to a certain protein that attaches itself and helps to feed the cancer, I now have three weekly infusions of Herceptin to combat it and I will be on Tamoxifen for the next five years to stop production of Oestrogen, as this again feeds the tumour.

I have four beautiful daughters – the oldest is only 21 and they were incredibly upset and scared, particularly as I’d only lost my dad to cancer five months before I was diagnosed, but they were so wonderfully supportive. None of them even cried because they felt that they needed to be strong for me.

Having cancer is all consuming and you don’t realise how much the little things matter until you get it. I lost my hair which was one of the worst parts because in turn I lost confidence. I didn’t want to look in the mirror anymore. It was even worse when I lost my eyebrows – I just looked naked. I wore hats because I didn’t like wigs, but it was devastating.  I found that I didn’t want to attend charity support sessions, I already worked as a nurse for Macmillan caring for the terminally ill, but during the hard times I didn’t feel like going out to the mixers. I did get an Ipad though, which I found useful. I could watch films and read books on-line. My husband booked me some nice nights away and I scheduled some relaxing duvet days.

Things are looking up now. I’m on number 15 out of 18 Herceptin, which I’m due to finish at Christmas and I’m proud that I’ve come through it. Throughout treatment I put on weight, which again knocked my confidence and so I started cycling, signing up for The Women V Cancer challenge 2013 in Cuba. I want to give back, raise funds and show everyone, including myself, that I’ve moved on. It’s 400km so an incredibly tough undertaking and my energy levels aren’t at their best, but the training is going well, slowly but surely. I even wrote a blog about my cancer journey and have just published a book to help my fundraising attempts called ‘ From Chemo to Cuba.’

I’ve learnt so much about myself. I had the strength to beat cancer and I realised that I owed it to my wonderful friends and family to fight to stay alive longer. I’ve gotten over the loss of dignity now too – I’ll whip my bra off nowadays as I approach the hospital doors!!

 It sounds a cliché, but breast cancer really helped me appreciate my life and forced me to strive for the most out of it.

 I hope that my story helps to raise awareness. My cancer wasn’t run of the mill in that I didn’t find a lump. If you notice any changes, I urge you to see your doctor straight away. "

To purchase a copy of Jenny’s book or to sponsor her for the Cuba challenge please visit www.justgiving.com/Jenny-white1.