Della was diagnosed in 2010. This Breast Cancer Awareness Month she’s working to increase awareness and improve care for women with breast cancer.
Della was diagnosed in 2010. This Breast Cancer Awareness Month she’s working to increase awareness and improve care for women with breast cancer.
I didn’t think black people got breast cancer
I was with a friend, complaining about an agonising breast pain in my left breast. I was self-medicating with pain killers, but she recommended I go to the GP. I was referred to the hospital for further tests, but I’d ruled out breast cancer.
‘Breast cancer is for white people, and it wouldn’t feel like that,’ I thought.
The doctor did a biopsy, then an ultrasound, and at this point her face dropped. But I still didn’t think it was anything bad. I was about to go on holiday, I’d just got a new job, all I could think about was the plane journey!
The tests came back, and the lump was malignant. I was in shock.
I found it scary to check my breasts
It can be scary to check your breasts if you don’t know how or you’re worried about breast cancer. Particularly after you’ve had a primary diagnosis, because you’re searching for cancer and so scared it might come back.
Sometimes you feel you don’t want to find out. You want to leave it to the professionals to deal with during routine mammograms. I always talk from an African point of view, although I’m in the UK. We weren’t brought up to touch our bodies, it’s not something that we’re used to doing. I knew mine, I was touching them, but I didn’t think it was anything to do with cancer. I thought, ‘My boobs are still growing, that’s it.’
Had my friend not encouraged me, I may never have seen the GP.
Get to know your own body and breasts
It can be lifesaving to check and find a symptom early on so you can have treatment as soon as possible.
It’s about getting to know your breasts, not just looking for lumps and signs and symptoms.
If you know what your breasts normally feel like, you’ll know when something is different. That’s when you can go to the GP to get it checked.
Join Della and spread awareness this Breast Cancer Awareness Month and share our breast awareness guide with friends and family.