At the age of 25 I always imagined myself going out with my friends, relaxing on holidays and generally having fun however, my life came to a crashing holt on 24/1/14 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer! It was a major shock to me, my family, friends and experts alike due to my age and the fact that no family member had suffered from cancer before.
My journey to conquer cancer started off positively when I was told after my lumpectomy the cancer had not spread to any of my lymph nodes due to identifying it at an early stage.
On 7/4 my treatment started with chemotherapy which consisted of 6cycles and thankfully went well. The side effects I experienced due to chemotherapy were the loss of appetite and severe mouth ulcers which led to a significant loss of weight. The most distressing side effect was losing my hair which may seem bizarre to many as I wear a headscarf but it had a huge emotional impact on me. I guess it was because hair is the most feminine characteristic of a woman which I felt was taken from me. For the first few days I was unable to look in the mirror however, this changed and now it does not bother me at all and forget at times that I had lost my hair.
My chemotherapy finished on 4/8 and my radiotherapy started a month later. I took part in a trial for 'Cancer Research UK' called 'Import' which consisted of 15 sessions of radiotherapy everyday excluding weekends. I've been lucky once again in that no major side effects have came about due to the treatment apart from feeling tired.
This overwhelming journey has now thankfully come to an end. I thank God for blessing me with an amazing family and incredible friends whom without I would not have come through this challenge. My battle with cancer may have come to an end but my journey does not stop here. I am hoping to work with the youth and the Asian community to raise awareness of breast cancer.
Manchester, United Kingdom
