Battling Cancer... But Ivowed To Find Love

The doctor’s words made Annie Belasco realise that falling in love was her priority…

- Kristina Beanland

How did you meet your other half? Perhaps it was at work? or maybe on a crowded dance floor? well, the story of how I found my husband is rather different. when we met, I was lying in bed, recovering from my latest round of chemotherapy…

It was July 2009 when I found a lump in my right breast. I wasn’t concerned. at just 25 years-old, I was working hard in recruitment and partying even harder at the weekends. other people got sick – not me.

I went to hospital, where I was given a biopsy, but I was so relaxed that when I returned for the results two weeks later I didn’t even bring my mum with me for support. Only then, the consultant began to speak. ‘You’ve got aggressive breast cancer,’ he said. Fighting the urge to be sick, I suddenly felt so afraid.

I listened, my whole body shaking, as the consultant explained that I’d need a mastectomy, before the strongest available course of chemotherapy. At this stage, I learned I had just a 30% chance of survival. ‘Do you have a husband you’d like us to call?’ he finished.

It might sound strange but, despite the devastating diagnosis, it was those words that hurt the most. No, I didn’t have a husband, I didn’t even have a boyfriend. I couldn’t help but think – if the worst happened – I’d have missed out on falling in love. And, in that moment, I made a decision. I wasn’t going to die without meeting the man of my dreams.

The weeks that followed were a blur of appointments and trips to the hospital. I was too busy being prodded and poked to go out on dates. I had a mastectomy in August 2009 before starting chemotherapy one month later.