HEALTHCARE
Face It, Beat It! October is breast cancer awareness month. Helping to raise awareness and share the breast cancer story, Sara Whatley tells a first-hand account and speaks to a Macmillan nurse
Y
ou find a lump in your breast. It’s a scenario that none of us want to experience, but for many it happens. In the UK 55,000 women and 370 men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, but happily the survival rate is on the increase and has actually doubled during the past 40 years. Awareness and quick treatment are key in catching breast cancer quickly. Every October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the time of year when Breast Cancer Now, the research and care charity, really get to shout about the important work they do. Breast cancer can happen to anybody. One woman with first-hand experience of the disease is Carrianne Foord; in 2014 she found a lump in her breast while she was in the shower. Being a very pragmatic person Carrianne went straight to her GP who referred her to the Park Centre for Breast Care in Brighton.
“They were so thorough,” Carrianne told me. “They checked me over, did a mammogram, ultrasound scan and biopsy all in one day. When they called me back in for the results it was worse than they initially thought. I saw a Macmillan nurse who gave me so much information, support groups and leaflets – I’ve still got it all in my cancer box.”
To help prevent breast cancer try to live a healthy lifestyle and attend breast screening appointments when invited Carrianne went to the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath for her surgery, which was successful, but again what they found was worse than they expected. “I used to call my
doctor, Dr Doom,” laughed Carrianne, “every time I saw him it was bad news!” Carrianne had her sister by her side, all the way through, offering the support and help she needed, absorbing all the information she could not. “It’s so overwhelming,” said Carrianne, “but I just took it one stage at a time and got on with it.” The oncologist saw Carrianne and told her she would need chemotherapy and radiotherapy. “That was the worst bit,” she recalled. “I didn’t want to lose my hair, but the nurses were amazing and gave me a cold cap which freezes your head to -5°C and helps prevent hair loss. They also gave me strengthening treatments for my eyebrows and lashes.” The treatment was intense for Carrianne – “I lost my appetite and was so spaced out after treatments. I used to say I had my chemo head on!”
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