I don’t have a straightforward relationship with breastfeeding. Does anyone? Back in 2013, when I was pregnant for the first time, I knew I wanted to give it a go. And then Joseph was born, three weeks early, and we had to stay in hospital for eight days because my blood pressure was high. The... Continue Reading →

Let me preface this post with an apology to anyone with the slightest grasp of biology. For all the mistakes I’m about to make, I’m sorry. So, because thirty-five is quite young to develop breast cancer and because my mum has also had breast cancer, my surgeon referred me to a genetics team. A few... Continue Reading →

I had a pretty easy time of it after the surgery. Joseph was at nursery for three days, and my parents were staying with us, and Paul and Rachel were around too. Because I had more help than I needed, Mum and Dad painted our nursery. The next day, they went to Rachel’s house and... Continue Reading →

We had to be at the hospital for 7am, which meant leaving the house before Joseph woke up. My parents were staying with us to look after him, and they got up to say goodbye. I was feeling a bit shaky, and Mum and I both started crying when we hugged, so I stepped out... Continue Reading →

The week before my surgery, the appointments really went into overdrive. Monday We saw our obstetrician. This appointment pre-dated the cancer. My pregnancy was being monitored quite closely because I had high blood pressure and eventually developed pre-eclampsia while I was pregnant with Joseph. But so far, my blood pressure had been fine, and things... Continue Reading →

One of the first things I thought after getting my diagnosis was, I have to tell my family about this. My parents and my sister, Rachel, knew I was going in that morning to get the biopsy results, so I knew they’d be waiting for a message to say that everything was ok. We decided... Continue Reading →