My life changed irrevocably in ways I could not have envisaged when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 1992.
Cancer is a blow to everyone it touches.
The period immediately after diagnosis can be a time of fear, anxiety and frustration, for us and our families. We, the patients can be on an emotional roller coaster, from hope to despair, courage and fear, humour and anger and perhaps the most difficult of all, uncertainty. We were both diagnosed with a tumour of the left breast. Five days later we had surgical biopsies which showed that my sister's tumour was benign but that mine was malignant requiring me to have a modified total mastectomy the following week. For many cancer patients, myself included, this is their first experience of serious illness and it can be incredibly isolating.