On November 5th 2002 I was happily living my life in London. I had a 16 month old daughter and I was really enjoying being a mum. On November 6th 2002 my world fell apart.
I discovered a lump in my left breast and within 24 hours I had been diagnosed with breast cancer. My treatment involved numerous operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. I was 32.
The first part of being diagnosed was questioning ‘why me’ and trying to get my head around everything that was going on. I then needed to find ways to cope, including dealing with self-consciousness from my changed body, hair loss and other side effects from the treatment. I didn’t want to be seen as the cancer patient, so I would try and boost my low self-esteem by making an extra effort with my appearance.
Thankfully that part of my life is now behind me. I have since emigrated to wonderful Melbourne and run dressyu Melbourne. I’m also an ambassador for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, which involves speaking about my breast cancer journey at fundraising events and for the media.
Through dressyu understands, I try to use my experience to help women going through breast cancer by giving complimentary style consultations. I understand that clothes and lipstick aren’t going to wipe everything away, but I know it helped me feel that little bit better.
Sarah x
