Jane

Breast cancer….. Having worked as a young nurse at the Christie I never thought it might happen to me years later. Life was pretty good and we were looking forward to enjoying our new house that we had recently moved into and more holidays and fun things. That autumn we unusually were very organised and had booked holidays and concerts and theatre tickets that would keep us busy until spring when suddenly our lives changed, I was a cancer patient and our lives went on hold. Cancer strips you of your self-esteem it strips you of your confidence and leaves you feeling disempowered and in the hands of others and facing your own mortality. My story with cancer though starts in the summer of 2016 when I was invited to join friends at an event showcasing people with cancer strutting their stuff on the fashion show runway for the Manchester Maggie’s centre. I was stuck that day by the joy those people radiated despite their cancer. Was it the heightened awareness from that day that led me to be more vigilant in checking my breasts…… I think it was.  A month or so later it happened to me. I found a lump,  surely it couldn’t be happening to me I had had a clear mammogram just 6 months previously ,I keep pretty fit, breast fed my babies ate healthily and had no history of cancer in the family but it was and I had to face it. I don’t need to tell you how difficult and brutal the treatment is I lost not only the hair on my head but even my eyelashes I felt ravaged and exhausted but I survived it emerging bruised and battered physically and mentally and cancer hanging like a dark cloud over my head. I took the plunge last year and applied to join that same Maggie’s on the Runway event that I had attended the two years previously but now as a cancer survivor.  It was the best thing I could have done.  Joining a group of people whom I would not have met otherwise we became friends all ages and backgrounds we gelled and supported each other. I watched and saw how we grabbed back our self-esteem increased our confidence and pushed our boundaries and how we laughed, the best medicine. Slowly but surely over that 6months the cancer cloud started to lift no longer defining my every minute giving me back my confidence and fun. Joining this campaign will be a step for many of the women in their journey in dealing with their cancer diagnosis but even more it is a chance to make the women of Manchester the most breast cancer aware in the UK, we are a beacon for the rest of the country. We are going to dispel the myths that it only happens in older women we are going to dispel the myths mammograms aren’t worth attending and dispel the myth that checking isn’t necessary We are going to go out there and reach women who are unaware, who are complacent ,and those who don’t check their breast. We are going to educate women that breast cancer can occur in any women no matter what age or background We are going out there together to predict protect and prevent breast cancer. We are going to help predict breast cancer making women aware of the risks and identifying those at risk we are going to protect women by showing how and why they should check and for those women who have breast cancer we will signpost them to support and treatment But our ultimate goal is going to raise money to prevent breast cancer money that will go into research here in the North West for our mother’s grandmothers wives sisters daughters and friends so that no one will have to go through that journey we are on. Our goal is that Manchester has the lowest rate of breast cancer and the lowest mortality rate. Come and join us in our fight; help us raise money, help us spread the message, together we can be that force for good. We can engage inspire and educate women across the North West and our example will inspire other areas in the UK to follow.