I had just turned 42 and cancer was the last thing on my mind as I was busy looking after my son that just happened to be blessed with Down Syndrome. He was always very active and at times be a bit rough. This particular day we were rough housing when by accident my little boy kneed me in the breast. It hurt at first but did not think anything sinister was going on. I left it a week but on examining my breast I felt a mass not a lump as such, in the back of my mind I thought something was not right. I went and saw my local GP and he got me an appointment to have an ultrasound and if needed a biopsy the following morning. A few days later I was back in the doctors surgery and was told the 3 most dreaded words " You have cancer". Within a month I had visits to my oncologist and surgeon to discuss my options and I decided that I would go having my right breast removed with no reconstruction and we also discussed having the left breast removed at some point as well. The surgery day came and went and the results came back that I had grade II infiltrating (multifocal) ductal carcinoma, with an axillary clearance as 28/32 nodes tested positive for cancer. I had 6 rounds of chemo,5 weeks of radiotherapy and 12 months of Herceptin. Last Jan had my left breast removed without reconstruction. Whilst going through all of this my marriage broke down but the one thing that kept me going was the strength of my little boy.
I have been told that I will not be cured of this insidious disease so have to live with it and if any issues come up we will deal with it! I am now on hormone blockers. I am going to fight this the only way I can with boxing gloves on as I have a little boy that needs me to be around as long as I can as he is only 7
Adelaide, Australia
