LOVE YOUR BODY

HOW TO LEARN TO love your new body

FOR WOMEN DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER, SURGERY CAN BE A PARTICULARLY HARD PART OF THE JOURNEY, BUT YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Accepting how your body looks after surgery can be challenging. A new survey, by Future Dreams and its partner Amoena, manufacturer of post-op swimwear and underwear, reveals there is much to be done to make women feel more confident.

More than 2,600 women took part in the survey, and six in 10 said breast cancer surgery left them feeling less attractive and feminine. Seven in 10 said they now felt limited in the clothes they could wear. And four in 10 were worried their breasts looked uneven.

Other women in the survey were worried their scarring or – if they had not had a reconstruction – that their replacement breast forms, would show. One third chose to wear baggy clothes to camouflage their problems.

Not every woman felt this way, however. The survey showed that two out of 10 women felt the same or even more confident after surgery.

So how do you learn to embrace the new you with confidence?

Joanna Franks is a Future Dreams trustee and one of the UK’s leading consultant breast and oncoplastic surgeons. She witnesses first-hand the struggles women have and says many breast cancer survivors think they are being shallow and ungrateful when they find it hard to come to terms with their new body. But, she says, they have every right to be concerned and must feel able to talk about these issues.

‘Women think it is vain to worry about how their breasts will look after they have had surgery, but it is not,’ she says. ‘Even with the best surgical techniques, their breasts may not be the same size or shape as they were or they may have had to have mastectomy without reconstruction, especially during the current Covid-19 crisis.

‘It is not vanity. It is about encouraging women to feel good about themselves after their surgery.’

Ms Franks says many patients are unaware that symmetry surgery is available on the NHS. The operation, which makes breasts look balanced,

can be done either at the time of the original surgery or decades later after gravity has changed a woman’s body.

‘Worrying about how you look is not just experienced by young women,’ says Ms Franks. ‘Some women stuff things in their bras for decades thinking there’s nothing they can do.’

Here, Future Dreams survivors tell how they learned to love their bodies.

Posing in our Future Dreams swimwear, Amanda, Merline, Jacquie and Vera discovered how to feel great again

‘I would never have posed in a swimsuit before I had breast cancer’ AMANDA HANISON,49

Amanda was diagnosed with breast cancer in her left breast in September 2013. She had a mastectomy and immediate reconstruction using fat from her stomach and has scars on her breast, tummy and armpit.

‘I had no idea how I was going to look afterwards, I felt like I had lost all control,’ she says. ‘I was a divorced mum and newly dating and worrying about how I was going to look was a big thing. I don’t think it was superficial. Obviously survival was the first thing I was worried about as I had 12-year-old twin boys. Three days after surgery my nurse took me to the mirror. I was so petrified to look they thought they were going to have to call the psychiatrist. But I was so grateful when I did look – they had done an amazing job.

‘Now I have 100% more body confidence – and self confidence – compared to before. The things I used to worry about before don’t bother me in the slightest! I love my body because it didn’t let me down. I am a breast cancer survivor and I have moved forward and lived on. Whatever scars I have show I faced a battle and that I am okay.

‘I am proud of my body – we have been through this journey together.’

‘It takes time to learn about your new body. But I’m here and I’m alive’ MERLINE SMALL,58

Mother-of-two Merline works as a school lunchtime supervisor and cake decorator. She is living with stage four secondary breast cancer.

‘It has been 12 years since my first diagnosis with breast cancer and it takes time to learn about your new body,’ she says. ‘How to dress differently and to buy different types of clothes. You have to re-educate yourself. It is a personal journey and you have to make sure you are on the same page as your consultant and plastic surgeon. Mine listened to my concerns. You may feel great one day and rubbish the next, but don’t compare yourself.

‘Since the age of 14 I have been very self-conscious about my breasts. I was very top heavy and I would feel people looked at my chest before my face. I always covered up my shape and it would never have entered my mind to pose in a swimsuit for a photo shoot. I have come a long way. I have learned a lot about myself and some things are just not important.

‘I am here, I am still alive. I don’t care what other people think any more - it is their problem not mine. I have other important things I want to do with my life.’

‘I waited more than 10 years to have a reconstruction – and it has changed my life’ DR VERA ORA, 56

Vera is a London doctor who specialises in psychiatric health. She has three children, including superstar singer, Rita Ora.

‘I was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 39 and really struggled,’ she says. ‘I chose not to have a reconstruction when I had my mastectomy. I just wanted the cancer out of me and couldn’t see past that. I told myself, “Just get rid of the cancer, then it will be fine.”

‘Looking back, I should have requested or had more information but I didn’t want to think about it. I then struggled with how I looked for years. My husband, Nic, always told me how attractive I was but I hated summer. I always covered up and if I went swimming, I felt my swimwear was floating away from my body.

‘Finally, six years ago, I decided to have reconstruction surgery and it changed my life. I felt more balanced. It was amazing.

‘Before the reconstruction my body confidence had been zero. Medication and hormone treatments had made me put on weight – now I felt ready to be more rigorous with my diet and exercise. I found the thing that made me click and it made me want to try to dress better, I started to feel like me again.

‘Women have to make sure they have the right support, a good network, as health anxieties can affect your body confidence. After you are diagnosed you need to see your clinician lots of times to make sure the decisions you make about surgery are the right ones.

‘And don’t Google for answers! Every woman is different, the answers you will see there are not personal for you.’

BODY CONFIDENCE Inspiration

‘Initially my body ‘My body is my personality, my me, whatever shape or size confidence was really low it is, having a mastectomy has made me realise that.’ but as I got used to how my body now looks I came to appreciate everything ‘At first after finishing that was good about it, ‘IF I CAN COPE treatment I was ashamed including my scar. My initial worries about a new partner seeing my scar for the first time soon faded WITH BREAST CANCER I CAN COPE WITH of my non-boob side. I had decided not to have reconstruction then a tattoo artist friend and only strengthened my ANYTHING.’ offered to tattoo my non-confidence.’ boob. She did an amazing job, which has given me my confidence back and ‘I am proud of my scars. They show how strong I am.I got I love showing it off.’ cancer at 28. My husband has only ever known my body after cancer and he loves it more than I could have ever hoped for.’ ‘I DON’T WORRY ABOUT WOBBLY ‘MY BODY IS MINE AND I AM BITS OR BITS HERE, SO WHAT THE HELL!’ THAT AREN’T “PERFECT” ANY MORE.’ ‘I had one breast ‘THERE IS removed and the other MORE TO ME THAN MY reduced as I had large breasts beforehand. I love my smaller breasts ‘Once I put on my wellfitted bra and pop my BODY SHAPE.’ and the shape they give false boob in my pocket, me.’ I look and feel perfect.’

Future Dreams has launched a major body confidence project with Look Good Feel Better. We have conducted a number of workshops and asked participants to fill in questionnaires to find out more about breast cancer patients’ crisis points and the support you are looking for. We look forward to announcing the next steps in the near future.

NICOLE’S STORY

Nicole de Havilland is the Founder and Managing Director of RECOHEART® Ltd and product designer of the RECOBRA®

Nicole’s clinical background started as a Lymphoedema Practitioner working within the breast cancer patient industry both for the NHS and privately, and has gained over twenty years of experience providing physical therapy for breast cancer related issues.

Nicole dealt with the most complex breast surgery cases and became a relied upon expert in her field, attaining practicing privileges within the Ramsay Hospital group and the Princess Grace Hospital in London treating patients within their London Breast Institute unit. Later Nicole worked at the London Breast Clinic based in renowned Harley Street, London.

Nicole heard continuous complaints from her patients that there was not a suitable and comfortable post-surgical bra available. Nicole also witnessed some of these issues including the irritation of seams and uniformed compressive garments that impeded the lymphatic flow causing complications. All of which led to impaired and compromised healing for these patients. The concept of the initial idea of creating, designing and manufacturing a bra garment that could cater for all breast cancer, cosmetic and cardio surgeries proved a difficult challenge. The product also needed to fit all shapes and sizes of women including their breasts.

After four years of development, Nicole co-manufactured with the help of a well-known medical textiles company in seamless technology.

Nicole also had the innovative idea to add a medical antimicrobial that would prevent body odour issues for the recommended recovery wear times and would provide a safety factor in infection risk reduction.

The product was named Reco Bra®, an abbreviation of recovery, and was awarded a medical device CE marking.

Reco Bra® is specifically designed to meet the needs of women looking for an immediate post-surgical garment that can be applied directly in theatres or when returning from hospital, with some cancer free ladies using the bra for comfort and sleep.

The Reco Bra® is an exceptionally well designed amazing bra product; it is not