Meet Our Champions: Claire

12th February 2020 News

I was diagnosed with primary Breast Cancer in October 2015, at age 37. My treatment plan was neoadjuvant chemotherapy, radiotherapy, followed by a mastectomy with axillary lymph node clearance. My follow up scans confirmed that I had bone Mets in my lower spine, ribs and sternum area.

I’ve often heard that patients have never heard of Secondaries, but that wasn’t true in my case sadly. My mum was diagnosed back in 1995 when I was just 17. She was just 45 years old when she died. My experience of Secondary Breast Cancer was scary – low life expectancy, quick deterioration of health and not many options treatment-wise. It was a horrible disease to be witness to, let alone be a patient.

Here I am, now age 41, in my 4^th year of first line treatment. I’m incredibly lucky to be stable, and I live relatively well with cancer. Life hasn’t turned out as I expected and I’d be lying if I said I don’t often think about my mums age when she died, especially the closer I get to that same age, being in a similar situation myself now. Thankfully the treatment options are far better than back then. It’s very often a tougher mental battle than physical one – that is certainly true in my case.

I’ve found a new confidence in myself the past few years, as well as an awesome Dr Martens collection – it’s what makes me happy ????, which is so important these days – and I’m determined to live my life without the doubts that held me back pre-cancer life. I’ve always been a strong person and now I want to use that to help inspire others to “live well with cancer” as much as I can.

My goal is to be around for my two furry boys, Ben & Jerry, and to see my niece and nephew grow up and be there for my friends and family for as long as possible. ????