Megan's Race for Life

On Sunday 7th July the Divvy C Diva’s will be joining the Race for Life to raise money for Cancer Research. At the beginning of this year a close family member was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. This was a huge shock to us as they had not been ill at all. Her journey started with a routine Mammogram where the lump was detected. The lump was so small that it was untraceable by touch. She was then seen at Addenbrookes Hospital in the Breast Unit for further tests which a week later (awaiting results) it was confirmed that it was Breast Cancer. No one in our family has had Breast Cancer in the past so as mentioned it was a huge shock. She then had surgery to remove the lump and also take a biopsy of her lymph node to see if the cancer had spread, luckily it hadn’t. Her tumour was then sent off for a test called Oncotype – testing a further 21 genes to see the % of the cancer returning in the next 10 years. If below a certain % then the treatment would be Radiotherapy, but if higher it would be Chemotherapy and then Radiotherapy. To everyone’s shock the test came back double what we thought it would be, again another huge shock to take in and process. The next stage for us as a family was the 12 weeks of 3 weekly Chemotherapy that she is currently going through. This has been a struggle at times as had made her very tired, but we are one of the lucky families that hasn’t had to deal with sickness (so far). She is now the very proud owner of a bald head to which we all think she looks amazing. After the Chemotherapy she will have to have 15 days of Radiotherapy that we know will also be tough as may make her very tired, but through all of this she has been the most positive person EVER. This year I am running for my MUM. She is a huge inspiration to me and the best ever. Without the Onctyping we would not have known the likely hood of cancer returning in the next 10 years. This test has helped Addenbrookes give her preventative treatment in hope that we will not have to go through this again. For anyone in this position, please ask about this test and have it done. Also… GO FOR YOUR MAMMOGRAMS and other routine tests that are offered to you throughout life.