An Introduction ...

My sister Angela, has always been a trend setter but this past year she has really surpassed herself.  Fetching white surgical stockings worn with shorts and sequined flips flops; a shiny bald ‘headstyle’ that was sometimes secreted under a clashing designer head scarf or mohair beanie hat; and a rather lopsided silhouette on account of her only having her right boob.   Not a great look but she insisted that one day it would catch on!

She’d been diagnosed with breast cancer and a modified radical mastectomy carried out on her thirty eight birthday, saved her life.  It wasn’t gift wrapped but it was a heck of a birthday present!

Ever the optimist, Angela believed that the cancer had disappeared as soon as she roused from the anaesthetic.  The operation had been the easy part, the following months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy were the real challenge.

The poison of choice as selected by her brilliant oncology team showed no mercy;    projectile vomiting, hard track marks on her arm, constipation, diarrhoea,  hair loss, sleeplessness, bright red urine, shingles, sore mouth, ugly fingernails and fatigue so extreme that she couldn’t lift a cup of water to her lips.

All that to contend with and more but Angela managed to stay positive and laugh in the face of adversity.  In fact, humour has played an important part in the acceptance and healing of her situation.  As a family we have cried many tears but most were through laughter.

The ridiculousness of her scarecrow wig, the surreal experience of shopping for a new boob and the surprising way people treated her once they knew what she was going through,  have all made her chuckle. 

This story will make the reader chuckle too... and maybe cry and be humbled, but most of all feel inspired by a very special lady who has stayed so very positive.  

She had lost her left breast.

Then she lost her long blonde hair.

And she lost her self employed income.

She had kept her humour.

Kept her dignity,

And she had just about kept her sanity.

She made lots of new friends.

She made money for cancer charities.

And she was hoping some brilliant plastic surgeon would make her a new breast and tweak the other one at the same time!

All women and their friends and family can read “Breast Cancer? Bring It On!” and find it humorous, inspiring, honest and informative.  It takes the reader through diagnosis and mastectomy, through chemotherapy and radiotherapy and to the current day with even more complications thrown into the pot, as she settles into the five year course of hormonal therapy.   My sister has celebrated her 39^th birthday and has already achieved some of her hopes and dreams for the future.  

 A future full of birthdays!