Laura's story

Laura is 31 and lives in Bristol. She has started accessing support from Penny Brohn UK after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She shares more of her story and how her family helped.

How have you interacted with Penny Brohn UK?

So far I have interacted with Penny Brohn UK online mainly, even though I live locally. I haven’t managed to come in person but I joined the introduction session online and it was really helpful.

Tell me a bit about your home and family life.

I’m a mum, I’ve got three young children and I live with them and my husband. We love spending time together and doing family stuff – really just making the most of the time while the children are little. I also like to read quite a lot.

Could you describe your diagnosis and the start of your journey?

In January, I found a lump in my breast and after I put it off for a few days, I got an appointment with my GP, who referred me straight away to the breast clinic. I went for a mammogram, ultrasound and a biopsy. Then two weeks later, on the 9 February, I had the results that told me I have negative invasive ductal cancer. The lump was 3cm, quite small considering, so it had been caught quite early. I was immediately referred to oncology and two weeks and four days later I started chemotherapy treatment.

It all happened very quickly, which I’m very grateful for, but it is a shock. I’m now on a twelve-week cycle of chemotherapy and then I’ll have another twelve-week cycle of a different chemotherapy drug.

It’s a lot of information to take in and so many appointments that you don’t really have time to stop and process it, but the waiting is by far the worst part, the two-week wait for the results from the biopsy was horrendous. Once you know what you’re dealing with, it gets better, and once you have a plan in place, you feel a bit better about it. Also once you’re in treatment, it’s not as scary as you can make yourself believe. Your head can really mess with you and make you think it’s a lot worse.

When did you first hear about Penny Brohn UK and what we offer?

We’ve lived near Ham Green for six years so we’ve always known that the Penny Brohn UK National Centre is there and we used to always walk past it regularly on our walks and I used to run past it every couple of days on my runs but I never thought that I would need you. But here we are.

I originally got in touch not long after my diagnosis. I was browsing the website and then eventually booked onto the Introduction to Penny Brohn course, which was really useful in knowing what you offer and that there is support out there, I suppose.

It was helpful to know that you actually really can live well – it’s not all doom and gloom as you instantly think I’ve got cancer, I’m going to die. But you can live well. You have to cling on to the good days and get out and do stuff. Meeting other people as well are going through the same thing and just knowing that you’re not on your own is so powerful.

I’m hoping that getting involved with more at Penny Brohn UK will give me some positivity and normality – when you are signed off work, days can be quite long and lonely. Getting out and doing things is a real big help mentally.

How have your family coped with your diagnosis?

My children are quite small so they understand to a degree. My mother-in-law went through Lymphoma last year, and we explained that Grandma was poorly and that she would need some medicine, quite strong medicine that will make her better, but it will make her hair fall out. We went with that explanation for me too, and we have a book called Mummy’s Lump that we’ve read to my oldest.

We’ve tried to be honest but positive about it and their school have been fantastic with understanding what we’re going through and being mindful that if they are having a bad day, they might just need a bit of extra TLC. My husband is self-employed but because of the side effects and not knowing how I would react, he’s taking some time off work to drive me to appointments, collect the children from school and also we’re enjoying spending some time together. I’m lucky, I’ve got quite a lot of support around me.

I’m normally quite independent – I do everything myself, I’m a teaching assistant, and I was so used to getting the kids to school, into work, coming home, picking the kids up, getting dinner, housework, everything, while Matt was the main breadwinner and he was out at work. To have to pull back and stop all of that, it’s hard at first, but you just have to accept that this time I’ve got to rest and get better and let other people do stuff.

Is there anything that you would say to someone who was a bit nervous about accessing Penny Brohn UK support?

There is so much support and you definitely need support. I’d recommend starting with the introduction meeting online because it is a really big help. You need people around you and there’s so much you can dip into or not dip into at Penny Brohn UK. It’s such a variety. And my advice is always to check your breasts – if I didn’t check, I don’t know where I’d be.