13/02/2026
A few weeks ago I took part in a podcast talking about my cancer journey and raising awareness about breast cancer — and it is going LIVE tomorrow! As it’s also my cancerversary next week, I thought I’d share one of my first blog posts and pictures, which details all of my original symptoms.
Blog post Feb 2023
“BOOBS, PREGNANCY & CANCER”
Ever since I’d been pregnant with my daughter, my right b**b had not been right — but as with most things, I ignored it and fobbed it off in my mind as pregnancy changes.
Whilst pregnant there are massive changes to your body, the main one being that lots of areas grow! My b**bs both grew, but at very different rates, and my right b**b never caught up with the left — but hey ho, that’s just pregnancy, right?
Then my beautiful Rosie arrived, and life took on a completely different pace — a complete whirlwind of bottles, nappies and zero sleep! Good job she’s worth it! Like most new mums, I was encouraged to breastfeed (though not pushed), and it was something I really wanted to do. I managed to give Rosie all the colostrum, but I really struggled to get her to latch onto my right b**b and she would only feed from my left. However, my actual breast milk didn’t arrive — who knew that your milk only comes in around four days after birth? That was news to me! So my breastfeeding journey ended there.
Rosie and I started to settle into our new rhythm, along with King Reggie, and the three of us became Team Fish — ready to take on the world together!
My body began to return to its new normal post-pregnancy, with a new scar added to my collection from the emergency c-section. Once again, both b**bs behaved differently. My right b**b shrank back to its pre-pregnancy size, but my left stayed at its new size — three cup sizes bigger!! Again, I just put it down to the strange things that happen to us women during pregnancy.
With two completely different-sized b**bs, and being a new mum — and a single new mum at that — I didn’t have the energy or time to get it checked out. I just thought, “Oh, I’ll mention it to the doctor one day about getting a reduction or something,” assuming it was just cosmetic.
As time went on, my right b**b continued to change. Each morning in the shower I would look at it and think about contacting my GP, but as with any busy mum, as soon as I stepped out there were a million and one things to do. I would promptly forget — until the next morning. And repeat. For the next 16 months.
By Christmas 2022, I noticed a major change — my ni**le had started to invert. Little did I know this is a classic sign of breast cancer. Yet again, I put my own health to one side, not realising the devastating effects that would have.
FINALLY, in February 2023, on a random Wednesday morning, I woke up and rang the doctors for an appointment. Thankfully, my surgery is brilliant with their system and there was one available that afternoon. Off I went, convinced it would be nothing — but with a niggly feeling that it wouldn’t be.
Once my GP had examined me, I could tell it was serious. She completed an urgent referral before I left and told me to be prepared.
That evening I had the task of ‘coming clean’ to my mum. There have been many times over the years when I’ve had to sit her down and explain the latest situation I’d got myself into — but it was always followed by a solution. This time, it was something completely out of my control, and that has been a difficult thing to comprehend because I have ALWAYS been able to fix everything.
As I told her — especially when I mentioned the inverted ni**le — I could see by her face that she knew it was serious. But as I said to her that night, and as is my life motto: “It is what it is.”
The very next morning, I received a call with an appointment to attend Bolton Breast Screening Unit the following day. And so the testing — and the never-ending hospital appointments — began.
Because my appointment was on a Friday, Rosie was in nursery and I assumed I’d be in and out. But once the testing started, I began to realise the severity of the situation. I ended up being there for over four hours.
I met two ladies in the waiting room that day. One had received her diagnosis on her 70th birthday, and the other’s cancer had returned. Both were amazing. They reassured me and were so positive about their own outlooks that it took away my fear and made me realise how many other people were in my position.
I decided that no matter what the doctors told me that day, it would all be OK — it just had to be. Nothing was taking me away from Rosie and Reggie. 💖
