Bosom Friends 3 – Recovery – Lea’s Story

Bosom Friends is a local support group of and for women who have experienced cancer first-hand.   We provide a welcome and safe space for women to share their journey, exchange insights, and find comfort with those who truly understand.  Our relaxed gatherings are the perfect opportunity to meet other women who have had a cancer diagnosis, to share stories, swap advice, and build friendships.

The experience of living with cancer involves: screening, diagnosis, and treatment, which can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and hormonal therapy, but the end of ‘active treatment’ is not the end of the journey – the focus then shifts to recovery, side effect management and long-term health which also includes, and possibly even to a greater extent, your ongoing mental well-being.

The Princess of Wales has spoken candidly about the life-changing long-term challenges of recovering after chemotherapy. Catherine speaks of the need for recovery time: “There is this whole phase when you finish your treatment that you, yourself, everybody, expects you “to be alright … you’ve finished your time, go, you’re better … and that’s not the case at all.”

“The support didn’t stop after treatment — sharing honestly has helped me cope with the long-term effects”.

Recovery – Lea’s story

I was having a bath, and I felt a lump in my right breast. I was strangely calm and called the GP to make an appointment, I was seen the next day and cancelled my work appointments. I was quickly referred to hospital and had numerous tests and informed I had a grade 3 breast cancer tumour. I then had five operations to remove and extensive chemo and radiotherapy.

I feel I have learned to be more patient with myself, my cancer treatment seemed to go on for so long and you never know whether it has truly gone or will come back. If you break your arm, you have it fixed and know you are better but with cancer it has been 10 years of operations and drugs.

More recently I have also learnt to reflect more openly as I maybe hid my true feelings deep within, there have been more tears recently as I have openly talked about my journey, which thankfully is still cancer free. I have found journaling to be cathartic, spending time thinking and writing down how I felt and feel.

Thankfully I have been cancer free for ten years, however, I do still have lingering effects of taking hormone therapy drugs for so long including brain fog and anxiety. I feel strongly that further investigation into the long-term effects of these drugs would be helpful as whilst they have kept the cancer away, I believe I am still impacted by their aftereffects, hopefully these will reduce over time

At Bosom friends we offer a listening ear because we know that wherever you are on your cancer journey sometimes, just having someone to talk to can make all the difference.

 “From WhatsApp chats to wellbeing days, this committed group has helped me grow, heal, and feel less alone.”

They meet every Friday from 9.30am–11am at Alpher Coffee at the Cranleigh Village Hall.