WHEN Fleur Waugh was told she had breast cancer, her first thought was “Right, I’m going to treat this like a business deal.”.
“I said to the doctor ‘So what’s next?’ knew I had a journey ahead, I knew it was going to be tough. It wasn’t until later on that I felt the full force of it,” she says.
Fleur was 42, with two children aged 13 and 10, and running a business when she was diagnosed. “I knew I’d get it one day,” she says. “Every time I went for a mammogram I’d sit in the waiting-room thinking ‘This is the day the doctor asks to see me’. And one day it was.”
Fleur had regular mammograms since discovering that the breast cancer gene BRCA1 was in her family. “A mammogram saved my life,” she says. “I had no visible lump, it was so deep I’d never have found it on my own.”
Today is the start of October - Breast Cancer Awareness Month - and Fleur wants to get the message across that getting checked can save lives. “I am living proof of this,” she says.
Next week she is holding a coffee morning at her Baildon home to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, which provides specialist care and support to people affected by cancer. “I like the idea of coffee mornings because I enjoy bringing people together,” says Fleur. “I held one last year and raised just over £1,000. It was a lovely day, everyone brought cakes and we had a quiz and a raffle. I’d love to raise even more this year. There’s going to be a ‘new to me’ party clothing sale, lots of laughter - and lots of cake!”
Fleur at her Macmillan Coffee Morning last year
Fleur wants to fundraise for Macmillan because she knows firsthand “how much it means to have someone there to offer support and reassurance when you need it most”.
“There are more than 3.5 million people living with cancer in the UK - behind every one of them is a story.”
Fleur’s story links with several generations of her family. Her mother, aunt, grandmother and several cousins all had breast cancer, and Fleur was diagnosed with it in 2014.
“My first awareness of cancer was when my auntie had it, aged 42. I was 15,” says Fleur. “She didn’t tell anyone she’d found a lump, by the time she got checked it was too late. My grandma (my mum and auntie’s mother) had breast cancer when I was born. She died when I was six-weeks-old. Her sister died of breast cancer aged 32. Mum says she always admired my grandma for her strength; she was a single mum, with a fulltime job, and raised two kids.”
Fleur and her mum, Christine. Christine was diagnosed with breast cancer 25 years ago, after calling at a mobile drop-in testing cabin
Fleur’s mum, Christine, was diagnosed with breast cancer aged 52 - the same age as her mother was when she had it. “When Mum was diagnosed they said the BRCA1 gene was in the family. The genetic clinic at Leeds Infirmary traced the gene back to Mum’s paternal grandfather,” says Fleur. “My sister Hazel and I had the option to get gene tested but initially I couldn’t face it as I had a young child and wanted more in future.”
Following her diagnosis, Fleur had the tumour removed, and some lymph nodes for testing, then underwent six sessions of gruelling chemotherapy. “I was very open with my children, Adelaide and Harrison. I joked about my hair falling out and said ‘I’ll get a wig’. Adelaide started crying and said. ‘I don’t want you to lose your hair’.
Adds Fleur: “Having clumps of hair fall out, in the shower and on the pillow, was traumatising. I was referred to a wig shop and went with my friend, Becky. When I put the pale pink wig protector on I looked bald. I just fell apart. It suddenly felt very real. As a woman, your hair defines you. Thankfully I didn’t lose all my hair, because I forced myself to wear a cold cap during chemo.”
After her treatment, Fleur’s consultant suggested a double mastectomy. She had a mastectomy and breast reconstruction at the same time, in 10 hours of surgery at Bradford Royal Infirmary. “It was a massive operation, it took me a year to recover. I remember waking up in intensive care and hallucinating with the morphine,” she says
A year after her mastectomy Fleur had a hysterectomy as a preventative measure. “My only option was to have everything removed, otherwise I’d have an 85per cent chance of cancer coming back,” she says. “It put me into early menopause, I had to take HRT. It was a huge ordeal - but I was alive. I’ve had all this time with my children, and my mum. I survived, unlike my aunt and my great aunt, who died at 42 and 32.”
Fleur Waugh and her mum Christine, both breast cancer survivors
Fleur credits her parents with instilling a positive attitude in her from childhood: “They said ‘You get from life what you put in’. I’ve always worked hard. When I got cancer I said ‘yes’ to everything I thought would help me. I had two incredible consultant surgeons - breast surgeon Rick Linforth and plastic surgeon Nick Rhodes.”
'My cancer surgery gave me all this time with my children,' says Fleur (Image: Fleur Waugh)
Reflecting on her ordeal, her eyes filling with tears, Fleur says: “I would do it all again, because it saved me. My family and friends kept me going; I went on a big night out with friends once I was well enough and, even though I was still exhausted, I forced myself to fight on. There was one moment that night when I had a wobble, but I told myself ‘You’re lucky to be here’.”
Macmillan is currently working with Coronation Street on a storyline about Bernie Winter-Alahan discovering her family carries a BRCA gene. Her son, police detective Kit Green, is shocked to be diagnosed with breast cancer and is struggling to talk to family, friends and colleagues.
“It’s great that it’s being highlighted - and that it’s showing that breast cancer can affect men too. If you have the gene in your family, like I have, you must get tested,” says Fleur. “If I hadn’t had that routine mammogram I’d never have known I had a lump in my left breast. I don’t want to shock or upset anyone by sharing my story, but I think it’s important to highlight the reality of a cancer diagnosis. Always get checked. Don’t leave it to chance.”
* To donate to Fleur’s Macmillan Cancer Support link visit www.cm26.macmillan.org.uk/fundraising/cm26025549