I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer on the 15th June 2023, at the age of 34. A few weeks prior to receiving my diagnosis I was experiencing a sharp stabbing pain in my left breast which I had never experienced before. Initially I wasn’t worried. Yes, breast cancer was at the back of my mind but I thought more likely hormonal. My sister had just had the same experience and told it was just that, fluctuating hormones. The last thing that occurred to me was that it could be breast cancer.
Fast forward to seeing the doctor – he immediately felt a lump and sent me immediately for a mammogram, biopsy and ultrasound the same day, he clearly thought something wasn’t quite right! I then endured the longest two weeks of my life when it was eventually confirmed that I in fact had triple negative breast cancer. After hearing those words ‘you have breast cancer’ I went into a state of shock, nothing quite prepares you for the life changing shock of your own diagnosis.
From then my mind was racing – has it spread? Will I lose my hair? They also advised that I might want to consider fertility treatment as the chemo could affect my eggs. No it hadn’t spread, yes I would lost my hair and yes I wanted to protect my eggs. Fertility treatment started two weeks later a roller coaster of hormones and bracing myself for injecting myself every day…not to mention the procedure itself.
Now in 2025, I am happy to say I am finally living life cancer free! 6 months of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, a single masectomy and a hell of alot of both physical and mental changes is what it took to stay alive and now I am ready to go and grab life Now I await for my reconstruction surgery which will be the next part of my journey.
