Bec, diagnosed 2019
Bec was 33 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019. She was determined to overcome the cancer to be there for her husband and son. Last year, she had a bilateral mastectomy and went through five months of chemotherapy. This February, she started radiation treatment before moving on to hormone-blocking therapy. Read her letter below.
Dear Bec,
11 years ago, you heard those heartbreaking words: ‘I’m so sorry, it’s not good news.’ You broke down, how is this possible? You only just turned 33! You just got married three weeks ago! It’s not fair! You soldiered on forward though and welcomed all the treatment the doctors told you that you needed.
In August 2019, you had a bilateral mastectomy with axillary clearance as the cancer had spread to one lymph node. In September 2019, you started a full-on five months of chemotherapy. It was hard. You lost your hair, eyebrows, lashes, and fingernails. You missed out on so many important events. The poison that was being pumped through your body was making you so sick but saving your life. In February 2020, radiation started and then you moved on to hormone-blocking therapy.
This was the hardest thing you have ever had to go through. You had so many moments of despair, crying. Hoping you would be around to see your son grow up. Hoping to have another baby one day. Hoping to spend the rest of your life by your husband’s side. You even imagined your own funeral. Seeing your husband, son and family sitting in the front row. You see a photo of yourself and you imagined that that’d be the one they’d use on your casket.
You imagined the pain of hearing even worse news. Your mind was a battlefield. Being diagnosed with cancer brought your mortality to the forefront. It was a scary time.
BUT you made it! All those countless days spent worrying about the ‘what if’s’. The sleepless nights. They are all in your past now. You are 11 years cancer-free with a lifetime ahead of you. Jono is 14-years-old and you have successfully had another one (or two) babies. It’s the year 2030 and there are now zero deaths from breast cancer. What a time to be alive! No more women or men have to face the trauma of breast cancer. They won’t have to worry about an uncertain future because research has meant dying from breast cancer is not a possibility.
You’ve got this! Stay strong. Your body has been through a lot but survived like the amazing doctors who you saw said it would.
Bec