Sam's story

I have worked as an Asda Community & Customer Champion for almost 9 years. A part of my job is to help raise awareness and funds for breast cancer through our Tickled Pink Campaign. I’ve also been a self-checker for the same amount of time.

I was in the shower doing my regular breast checks when I felt something different

Once out the shower, I stood in front of a mirror and lifted my left arm up and turned to the side. There it was, clear to see, the orange peel dimpled skin on the underside of my boob. This is one of the signs on the Breast Cancer Now leaflets.

I called my GP and arranged an appointment. The GP did an examination of both breasts and told me not to tell her where I felt the lump so that she could determine for herself. Within seconds she found it, I was secretly hoping I was wrong. The next step was referring me to the breast clinic for a mammogram and ultrasound. This was followed with a biopsy of 2 pieces of tissue taken from my breast.

The consultant told me I had Invasive Ductal Carcinoma

My head started spinning as I tried to listen to the nurse and consultant. All I could think of was how my husband and kids were going to cope. I’m the strong one in the family and so had to keep up my strength for all of them.

I had surgery to remove the lump and 3 lymph nodes. But my cancer was larger than they thought. And that’s when they told me, I had grade 3 stage 3 cancer,

I had another Ductal Carcinoma in situ sitting behind the first lump. This had spread to my lymph nodes, so my plan changed to 16 rounds of chemotherapy, 20 rounds of radiotherapy, followed by 3 years of Zometa infusions, 5 years of a Prostap injection every month and 10 years of Tamoxifen. My head was spinning.

I turned to Breast Cancer Now’s website

I read up on everything, so I knew as much as possible to help me with my journey. It was my go-to when anything popped up, like a new side effect. I faced one of the toughest times of my life.

I also joined in the Facebook Live events every week which became like my weekly soap opera.

Once my chemo and radiotherapy were finished, I was hard on myself for not bouncing back quick enough. But again, the Breast Cancer Now community made me re-think my recovery and to listen to my own body, not everyone else’s. I really began to see life differently and now don’t worry about things I can’t control.

Fizzle me pink!

My wear it pink event is called Fizzle Me PINK. It’s an afternoon tea with fizz. I’m having 100 ladies dress to impress to raise funds and awareness. All ladies will receive a swag bag of goodies, along with the all-important signs and symptoms leaflet. There will be live singers and a DJ for dancing. The day will be filled with some fun raffles, a bottle dash and a reverse bingo game. 

Keep it fun

My top tip is to make your event as much fun as possible. I always try to make light of my breast cancer diagnosis as I truly believe if you laugh about something, it sticks in your mind. Once you’ve set a date, keep everyone in the loop by creating a group chat. 

We must keep the conversation going

A breast cancer diagnosis is not always the end. If we catch the cancer early, it’s totally treatable. But to do this we must know our own bodies. I want to keep on raising money for research into better treatments and better screening. We must make it something we can talk about to our friends, our children, our parents and our partners.