My Breast Cancer Journey

I’m Charlotte, a journalist by trade. I worked on the national newspapers in London for many years. I then moved into digital content and help businesses with their online words and other stuff.
 
I’m a single mum to two incredible teenagers and a gorgeous/demanding cat.
 
I’m a Welsh gal, living in Berkshire, and have lived in France and Spain, picking the languages up along the way.
 
For weeks, in early 2022, I’d had a very sore left shoulder. It had been keeping me awake at night, persistently painful. I made an appointment to see my GP and she, diligently, said she was sending me for an ultrasound and a mammogram. “Nine times out of ten it’s nothing,” she reassured me. It turned out to be ‘something’… The ‘something’ that nobody ever, ever wants: Breast Cancer.
 
If it wasn’t for my sore shoulder, I wouldn’t have gone to the doctor as there was nothing that presented itself as breast cancer. No lumps, no puckered skin, etc. I am eternally grateful to my GP for seeing something I couldn’t – and for acting upon it.
 
I faced a hard year of treatment, including three surgeries (one of these was a breast reconstruction), chemotherapy and radiotherapy. I’m now on Tamoxifen as my breast cancer was estrogen-positive.
 
Soon after my diagnosis, I knew I wanted to put something together to help others going through the same. I received so much help and support – but I had to dig around for it. Here, with Poorly Boobs, I want the information to be easily found, all in one place. And yes, it is focussed a lot on how we can make ourselves look and feel better during cancer.
 
Cancer takes so much from us but it doesn’t have to steal ALL of our sparkle.