I Spent My Savings To Get My Body Back

After beating ovarian cancer, Su Hickman, 46, was determined to feel like her old self again

- Kelly Strange

As I adjusted the straps on my size 12 pink, floral bikini, I looked at my body in the full-length mirror in my bedroom. ‘Wow!’ I thought, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth and tears brimming in my eyes. At 46, I’m proud of my defined waist and slim legs but my figure has come at a cost – and years of heartache.

It was September 2013 when I started to feel unwell. As a nurse at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, my job was demanding so it was easy to put my symptoms of feeling lethargic and bloated down to being overworked. But they didn’t let up.

‘You could be going through the menopause early,’ said my GP. At 39, I wasn’t convinced, and as the weeks passed, my bloated stomach started to hurt and I felt feverish. My husband Jason, then 47, and ourson Eddie, 15, insisted I go back to the doctor and eventually I was referred for an internal ultrasound. Even then I thought there would be a simple explanation, so I went to the hospital alone to get my results. But nothing could have prepared me for what came next.

Shock news

‘You have ovarian cancer,’ a consultant said gently. He explained that I had a tumour the size of a bag of sugar and I’d need an operation to remove it, followed by a course of chemotherapy.

I don’t know how, but I managed to stay calm. My mentality was, ‘Right, I have cancer, I just need to get rid of it’.

Telling Jason and Eddie was hard. ‘They were both so strong, refusing to get upset in front of me. ‘We’ll get through this,’ said Jason, his voice full of determination. And Eddie helped around the house more.