Through cancer and BEYOND

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, three women reveal how fighting the disease changed them for the better

- GILLIAN HARVEY

‘Cancer made me braver’

Julie Brandram Jones, 62, is a part-time bookkeeper and lives with her husband Charlie, 63, in Herefordshire.

Sinking into a bubble bath, I mused about the twists and turns life could throw at you. It was August 2014 and I was staying with my parents, to help care for my elderly father after an operation.

Seconds later and still deep in thought, I suddenly felt a chicken-nugget-sized lump in my left breast.

I’d read somewhere that the majority of lumps are benign, so I wasn’t overly worried. And even when my GP referred me to the breast clinic, I was so convinced all would be well, I didn’t tell my husband.

Yet after a scan and biopsy, I was told that I had cancer. Shocked, I had to steady myself before driving home and telling Charlie.

That September, I began eight rounds of chemotherapy, with a single mastectomy planned for January 2015. Only, the more I thought about surgery, the more I realised that not only did I not want to feel lopsided, I also didn’t want to worry about another lump, or have a painful reconstruction.

‘I want you to remove both breasts,’ I told my consultant.

At first, he refused. It’s not policy to remove healthy tissue. But when I was still adamant after five months, he agreed.

It wasn’t until after my double mastectomy I found out I’d had stage 3 cancer. Soon after, I discovered Flat Friends – a charity for women living without breasts. Its support has been second to none.

At first, I wore prosthetics – I had a range of sizes, and even a pair of knitted breasts Charlie called my ‘blue tits’. But these days I’m more confident living flat.