Hello!  I am trying to
raise some money for the wonderful charity SASH and this is my story...

One Thursday I noticed a large lump in my right breast whilst having a shower. I’d recently finished breast feeding my son who was almost 7 months old so hoped it was just mastitis.  I called the GP the same day for peace of mind. The GP advised me to see if the lump disappeared over the weekend and if not, to call back and arrange an appointment. The lump didn’t disappear so I went to the GP on the Tuesday morning. I was quickly referred to the Breast Cancer ‘one stop shop’ clinic at Crawley Hospital two days later. A wonderful friend came along with me as and we chatted away trying to act normally whilst I went through a variety of tests all within a couple of hours – an aspiration, mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy.  Later that afternoon I went back to the hospital with my husband and our son. I knew it was bad news when I was welcomed very gently into a meeting room with a Consultant and two Breast Care Nurses. 

Nothing can prepare you for the fear that overcomes your body when you hear the words ‘You’ve got Cancer’.   I was lucky to have had the Cancer diagnosed at Stage 2, albeit that it was a large lump (just under 5cm) and had spread to my lymphs.   I was 32 at the time.  The growth factors of the Cancer meant that my recent pregnancy had made it grow. 

Within a couple of weeks of the diagnosis, I quickly started primary chemotherapy for 4 months followed by a double mastectomy.  A single mastectomy was recommended but the double was my choice.  My Specialists thought it was unnecessary but, respected my decision. I avoided radiotherapy given the size of the lump and how well it responded to chemo. I was on a wonder drug called Herceptin for a year which involved a trip to the hospital every 3 weeks for the intravenous treatment.   I’m on another drug called Tamoxifen for 10 years (almost 4 years down, 6 years to go whoop!). The reconstruction part was much tougher and longer than I expected. I only finished the full process around 2.5 years after being diagnosed.  It was worth the wait and gave me back some confidence and femininity.

The love and support from my husband, son, our family, friends and colleagues was immense from turning up with freshly cooked food or to take our son out for a couple of hours so I could rest, babysitting when I was radioactive after a nuclear scan and couldn’t touch my son, visiting us from all over the country (some internationally), paying for a cleaner for us, taking me for treatment, talking to me about their life and problems to help me forget about mine, helping me recover from operations, and thoughtful messages, cards and flowers to cheer me up – the list is endless.

Anyway, enough about me, myself and I!! The reason i’m doing this is to raise awareness on the importance of knowing your body and to get any changes checked out fast and to raise some money for the incredible people who work at Crawley, East Surrey and Guildford hospitals.  The people and units that really stand out for me are the one stop breast care clinic and Comet chemotherapy ward at Crawley hospital and also, the Nuclear Medicine and Surgery units at East Surrey hospital so i’m specifically fundraising for these four areas.  The men and women who work in these hospitals are truly amazing.  Cancer is such a complex illness and the fight to find a cure is an enormous one.  I pray that the day will come when cure(s) are found for Cancer. Until then, we need the expertise, empathy, respect, support and services that the Crawley and East Surrey hospitals offer Cancer patients.  The SASH Charity can help this as it invests in state of the art equipment, training, health research, improving hospital environment and adding clinical resources.

I think our bodies are amazing – I can’t believe how my body has recovered from an intense and long beating of drugs and surgery.  Being healthy and fit is really important to me – I do whatever I can to give myself a chance of keeping well (although the odd glass of wine and a trip to the chippy for fish and chips with curry sauce is needed!!).  Rather than sit back and worry about the future, which of course I do occasionally, I have decided that whenever i’m well enough to, I will do an annual fundraising event and it’s my time give back a little.  25^th June 2017 will mark 4 years since I had a double mastectomy. In my mind that was one of the biggest steps in my battle with Cancer.  I want to mark this date with a challenge to swim 4km front crawl – that’s 160 lengths in a 25 metre pool. I’ve trained and can get up to 120 lengths so far so I have another 40 more to get there!! 

Any donation you can give, no matter how small, would be so appreciated for this fantastic charity!

Thanks for your support!

Claire XX