It’s very common for people who have had a primary breast cancer diagnosis to worry about a recurrence. If it does happen, we're on hand to help you through it.
It’s very common for people who have had a primary breast cancer diagnosis to worry about a recurrence. If it does happen, we're on hand to help you through it.
What is recurrence?
Recurrence means the same breast cancer has come back. It’s not a new breast cancer, although people who’ve had breast cancer have a slightly higher risk of developing a new primary breast cancer.
If breast cancer comes back in the chest, breast or armpit area, or in the skin near the original site or scar, it’s called local recurrence. Having local recurrence doesn’t mean the cancer has spread.
And if breast cancer has spread to the chest wall or skin of the breast, or the lymph nodes around the chest, neck and under the breast bone, but has not spread to other areas of the body, it’s called locally advanced breast cancer.
Sometimes breast cancer is locally advanced when it’s first diagnosed.
Caroline’s experience
Caroline, a 46-year-old mum of two, was diagnosed with primary breast cancer in February 2016, only for it to come back in June 2021.
She said: ‘My first thought was that I was going to die. I was afraid and angry at the time, which I still am sometimes, but I realised I had to stay strong for the sake of my two young children.’
But right from that first moment, Breast Cancer Now was there for her. Straight after her diagnosis at the clinic, Caroline was handed our information leaflet which reassured her that we were there for her with our life-changing support services.
Our Someone Like Me Service provided a lifeline to Caroline after diagnosis, as she was able to talk to someone who had just been through what she was about to face. Our Moving Forward course helped her prepare for life post-treatment with confidence. Our Younger Women Together course introduced her to other women going through the same experience as her. And our breast care nurses provided her with professional information and a listening ear.
Breast Cancer Now is a 'lifeline'
It’s scary to think what Caroline’s breast cancer experience might have been like if Breast Cancer Now wasn’t there to support her every step of the way. Even now, after her treatment has finished, we’re still here for Caroline, who says that Breast Cancer Now is a 'lifeline' and that it would be ‘devastating’ if our services were no longer available.
'Post treatment and years after my first diagnosis, Breast Cancer Now still check in on me,' adds Caroline.
Because of research that has already improved treatment and care, Caroline is still here and able to share her story with you, as well as see her children grow up. Your donations will not only help to fund life-changing support, but also vital research into ways to prevent breast cancer, save lives and help people live well with the disease.