Chloe’s story

After a wonderful summer celebrating mine and my sister’s wedding it was time to start back at work after the summer holidays. I got ready had a shower and checked my breasts as I routinely did in the shower anyway. On this occasion 8th September 2021, I could feel a very hard lump on the surface of my breast. I shouted my husband so he could check to see if he could feel it or if it was my imagination. He could feel it. I rang the doctors who could see me on the 10th. She was a fabulous doctor, she could feel the lump and said I needed to be referred to the hospital. 

Eight days later I was seen by the doctor at the hospital he sent me for an ultra sound scan, mammogram scan, and a biopsy, everyone was so nice, as it was still covid times I was alone and very scared. I cried a lot. I knew what I had from the moment I found the lump, unfortunately my mum passed away from secondary breast cancer and I always thought it would get me just not at 29 years old. On the 30th September I went to the hospital to get my results. They told me I have grade 3 Breast cancer. This time they allowed my husband in, it’s never good news when you need a loved one to come in with you. It’s a good job, as he did all the listening I just cried and wondered the worst and thought of my two boys.

I was offered the gene test (which came back that I didn’t have the same gene as my mum did) and my biopsy was sent off to determine if I needed chemotherapy. We planned my surgery, a lumpectomy, which went ahead on the 10th November. I recovered well and waited to hear about my results for chemo, my results came back high so needed to go ahead with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Five days after my 30th birthday I started chemotherapy, but I decided cancer wasn’t taking my hair it had already taken enough from me. I used the cold cap, which was horrible, it used to make me feel so sick but I persevered, I didn’t want my boys to see mummy poorly and bald. Five months of chemo and 20 sessions of radiotherapy and I thought I was done. My surgeon decided we should remove my ovaries as a precaution which we did in January 2023. I’m currently waiting for a double mastectomy as another preventative surgery.

It was tough, but I smashed it and continue to smash it every day.