15 YEAR CANCERVERSARY 15 years ago today was one of the worst days. Naive and vulnerable, I fumbled my way through a breast cancer diagnosis and all the terrors that came with it. It was a stage 1, grade 3, ER/PR + and HER2 - tumour in my right breast. That’s all the information I had. At the time I didn’t fully understand the implications. After my radical mastectomy and chemotherapy, I was put on Tamoxifen for 5 years. My breast surgeon had given me some statistics - a 95% chance of no reoccurrence in the following 5 years. Those words were filed in the recess of my brain. He waved me off with a broad smile, “Enjoy your life” he said, “Move on, but make sure you come and see me for your annual mammograms.” As naive as I was at the time, I found this farewell confusing. Of course I soon realised he was a prize twat for saying what he did. Luckily for me, my oncologist had never discharged me. Why would he? I had a grade 3 aggressive cancer, so he would need to monitor me closely. Seeing him every 6 months was the right thing to do, and he’d always made it clear that I could go back in between appointments too. 7 years after my primary diagnosis, in a routine examination, my oncologist felt a hard pea-sized lump behind my collarbone. I came to realise that statistically SBC doesn’t reoccur in the breast, so having annual mammograms was pretty pointless. Having scans on the other hand was important. I was lucky that my secondary was discovered early, but I wish that I’d been properly informed about the red flags. Oncologists need to stop this mollycoddling and give primary patients the facts. You can find the infographics by @metupuk in my highlights. The past 15 years have been a huge learning curve, always making it my business to educate myself. Having the knowledge has given me the confidence to self-advocate, to question and to challenge. Those times have saved me. I’ll always encourage you to do the same. With 15 years of cancer fuckery under my belt, I consider myself worthy of imparting what I’ve learnt. I owe it to myself, to the friends I’ve lost over the years, and to those who’d still like to live a life they love.