In September 2016, I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. I was 39… hang on, let’s just stop right there. This doesn’t happen to people my age, does it? Clearly it does. And over the following months, I learn a lot about it.

One of the first things I realised was how taboo it was – people didn’t really talk about it; if you said you had cancer, they just looked shocked, said how sorry they were, and the conversation stopped right there. Or worse – their immediate reaction was to try and empathise, by telling you about someone they knew who’d had it really badly, and how terrible it all was…

I didn’t want this to be a negative thing – there’s too much of that in the world already. And I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me, I didn’t need sympathy, I needed strength and optimism. So I figured that by sharing my story in all it’s gory detail, I could help people feel more comfortable talking about it, break down that taboo, and create something that people could get behind and fight back in force.

So I kept a blog – boxysboobjob.com – it has videos, photos, tears, pain, and yes I do get my boobs out! Click over to the one about the boobs to read the story…