Living flat and recovery after breast cancer
Photo credit: Ami Barwell for Stand Up To Cancer Defiance – what does that mean to you? One dictionary definition is: proud and determined opposition against authority. To me it means challenging the norm, being brave enough to speak up for myself. Ami Barwell’s Defiance exhibition for Stand Up to Cancer shows the gritty and … Continue reading Defiance
I haven’t blogged in months. Not since the beginning of June to be precise. I was riding high on a wave of positivity; my image having appeared on billboards in Times Square and Piccadilly Circus. I’d been on BBC Radio London and made a repeat appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live. There were press articles … Continue reading Living my best life
#ShowUs in London - a topless image of my flat torso, showing my mastectomy scars appears in Piccadilly Circus. May was a very exciting and surreal month for me. Project #ShowUs arrived in London and my topless image featured on some of the biggest billboards in the capital. The gift that keeps giving is how … Continue reading Flat in Piccadilly Circus
My reflections on being a topless model in Times Square, following my double mastectomy treatment for breast cancer. Yesterday a photo of me went up on a billboard in Times Square, New York, alongside nine photos of other women. It’s going to stay there for two weeks. I think that’s pretty remarkable. But what is … Continue reading #ShowUs more women who look like me
Nearly three years ago I had my first mastectomy. My left breast was removed because a seven centimetre tumour had taken up residence in my GG cup. Despite having had a lumpectomy three weeks previously, the tumour was too large and too dispersed and so the whole breast had to go. Being told that I … Continue reading Horror vs Happiness
At the weekend, Facebook reminded me that I started this breast cancer blog a year ago. When I wrote the first post, I had no idea what reaction I’d get – if any! I had no idea how blogs worked...and even less about search engine optimisation. I still haven’t worked that out and it did … Continue reading Weather report
What to do to commemorate the third anniversary of my breast cancer diagnosis? It's today, by the way - 22nd January 2019. I decided to celebrate, rather than commemorate. I celebrated being alive and being one of the lucky 1 in 8. I celebrated life and family and flowers. I celebrated by getting inked. A … Continue reading No tits and a tat
Anger is fuel. We feel it and we want to do something. Hit someone, break something, throw a fit, smash a fist into the wall, tell those bastards. But we are nice people, and what we do with our anger is stuff it, deny it, bury it, block it, hide it, lie about it, medicate … Continue reading The one about anger
As the end of another year approaches, I've been in reflective mood. It's almost three years since my breast cancer diagnosis which means that, unbeknownst to me, at this moment in 2015 I had a tumour growing in my left breast. I'm a very different person now, both physically and emotionally. As I write I … Continue reading What a year
I'm aware that most of my posts have about breast cancer - my feelings and recovery, as well as my recent hip replacement surgery. So I thought that it was about time that I featured my flowers as they were originally going to be an equal part of this blog. This is going to be … Continue reading My year in flowers
