A couple of friends are taking on the challenge of completing the Raw energy pursuits- River Adur ‘Beat the tide’ 4.4KM swimming race on Saturday 2nd September 2023 to raise awareness of breast cancer and the self-check process.

You never think it will happen to you!
You hear about stories and in the news but only when you are sitting there awaiting the consultant to tell you the results of all the tests, All the waiting, speculating and anxiously stressing.
I’m afraid you have breast cancer!

This is my wife’s story so far……….

My name is Jodi, I am a  36 year old paramedic. 2022 was our year! Paul and I celebrated our wedding in Rhodes with our beautiful children 2 & 3 years old.

Our amazing friends and family joined us on the beautiful island of Rhodes. We came home and were living on cloud 9.  

 

In November that year I was in the shower while my husband was getting ready to watch England play football. I found a lump in my right breast. I just brushed past it with my arm. I checked again and couldn’t find it, a sigh of relief, it was just in my head! I check myself regularly by just feeling for any new abnormalities that weren’t there before. I got out the shower and after searching, I found it again. I then asked my husband to help me, could he feel if it was really there? He found it too. At that moment I believe I knew I had breast cancer.   

I was on the phone to the doctors at 8.30 the following morning, seen at 9.30, believed to be a glandular lump and nothing to worry about, but never the less, referred within 2 weeks to the breast clinic. 12 days later I was sat waiting for my name to be called, here we go! Examined and likely to be nothing to worry about but lets ultra sound you to be sure, great I thought. Laying on the table with a sheet of tissue paper over my breasts in a very cold room, chatting away to the sonographers, the consultant arrives. Her words I will never forget…’Hi, I’m here to do your ultra sound for the lump you found in your right breast, how old are you’? ‘36 I replied’. ‘Wonderful, no need for mammogram then as your under 40 so let’s get on with the ultra sound’…. Within 10 seconds of the consultant looking at the screen, she orders the nurse to arrange a double mammogram and double biopsy and advices me she will see me again in 15 mins. What just happened? What changed? So I asked her ‘I don’t often drop this line, but I’m a paramedic and your treatment plan changed very quickly in just 10 seconds, please talk to me as a medic. She smiled and continued to explain what she had seen. I had my mammogram, which didn’t show anything, followed by an eye watering biopsy. ‘What happens now?’. You will be called in for your results, we meet on the 28^th December, you will hear after that. She told me all I needed to know, in so many words, she told me to prepare for cancer from what she saw on the screen, a square shaped lump, with no tissue being pushed away. That’s exactly what we, as a family did!  

Although there were many tears into empty bottles of wine, what ever was to come, I knew I had no choice but to fight! It was December, there couldn’t have been a better time, everyone in high spirits, the children excited about the lights, decorations and the big day, lots of Christmas outings and family get together…no time to be sad about a little lump that was never welcome!  

 

On the 28^th December, I called in sick. Up till now no one outside the family needed this upset or worry, including work. But today I didn’t feel strong enough. At the time I was going to leave for my shift I got the phone call. Two days later on the 30^th of December 2022, my husband and I got up, got ready and headed to the hospital. We sat down with smiles on our faces. ‘I’m sorry to say, the biopsy indicates you have breast Cancer’. Our world didn’t end, it suddenly got a hell of a lot stronger. ‘Ok, what’s the plan?’ we said. And there it was, exactly what we had been waiting for, a step by step treatment plan, starting with a lumpectomy and 4 lymph nodes being removed in 3 weeks time. We had prepared ourselves for cancer, we had the diagnosis and now we have the treatment plan, lets get going.  

 

From that day the tears stopped, I was strong, determined and most of all, blessed with the most positive mind-set! I knew I had a long road ahead! Telling friends and family was heart-breaking, looking at my children knowing I had got this disease was devastating, seeing how broken my husband was, was sole destroying, yet it gave me courage and energy to just fight!    

 

My future is full of medication, infusions, injections and radiation. But most of all it is full of a positive and bright future. I will be continuing this journey the way I started, with the best husband, soul mate and incredible daddy to our children. Looking into my two little miracles eyes and looking forward to watch them grow into the incredible little people they are going to become. I have the best foundations. An amazing support network of friends, family, work colleagues and school mums.  

 

My journey is and never has been a secret. I’m here to share my story and to create awareness, check yourselves for any abnormalities and act on it… always stay positive, the mind is powerful.

We would like to share the amazing support we have received and continue to receive from breast cancer now.

https://breastcancernow.org/information-support/touch-look-check?gclid=Cj0KCQiAx6ugBhCcARIsAGNmMbhX1QOnQ2X4Ajt_cHzR8JWsZcbBgnsumiwj0ogKEphvvS432N8NLk0aApVOEALw_wcB    

 

Thank you for reading.