As Breast Cancer Awareness Month draws to a close, Gemma Barker opens up about her breast cancer diagnosis and her mission to raise awareness among both women and men.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month for me last year was horrendous. I had just been diagnosed with breast cancer with no family history of the disease at age 40 on 1 September 2022 and suddenly I found myself surrounded by pink messages, a list of things to look out for and statistics that scared the life out of me.
This breast cancer awareness month I have just returned from a life-changing hike in Mont Blanc, where a group of us raised over £500,000 for Coppafeel, a breast cancer charity dedicated to raising awareness of the signs of breast cancer to ensure early diagnosis and good prognosis. Something that had I not had the knowledge of, could have been a very different story for me and my family.
This year, and no doubt forever more, I am dedicated to ensuring other women and men (men can get breast cancer too) know what to look for and to do anything I can to support the breast cancer community.
Vigilant
My journey started with a lot of reassurance from my GP about the lump that seemed to come out of nowhere in the summer of 2022 and even the breast consultant (who would later do my surgery), declared it nothing to worry about.
Thankfully, after a clear mammogram, the team still decided to do an ultrasound and while they were confident it was a benign lump, they wanted be vigilant.
When my first biopsy came back inconclusive, I was called back for a further three biopsies before a text message sent to me during the postal strike called me in for a meeting (with a guest if I wanted) with the breast consultant.
By this point there was no avoiding there was a problem and I was told with my husband by my side that I had grade 3, oestrogen receptive breast cancer. This diagnosis meant the grade of my tumour, while only 2.5cm in size, was the fastest growing it could be and was fuelled by oestrogen and sparked a treatment plan that involved a lumpectomy, four months of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy to shut down my ovaries and kick start medical menopause aimed to stop oestrogen in its tracks.
I now await ovary and tube removal and have just started two further years of daily oral chemotherapy, which manages my future high risk of recurrence. However, despite this somewhat gruelling treatment plan, I am currently cancer free and my prognosis is good, because my cancer was caught early.
Finding comfort
The biggest challenge for me in all of this was losing my wonderful friend Emily to stage 4 breast cancer, five months before my own diagnosis. She should have had the same prognosis as me and I will forever be devastated that her story wasn’t the same as mine.
But it is because of her that I feel so passionate about early diagnosis and to be so absolutely grateful that I found my lump when I did.
Last month I completed the Tour de Mont Blanc with Coppafeel, something which pulled me from my chemo fog into an intense exercise programme and catapulted me into an experience I will never forget.
Surrounded by 120 other women and men who had either experienced breast cancer themselves, lost a loved one to the disease or who will be living with it forever, we found comfort in each other and united in raising money to support those still to be diagnosed.
It was an experience that rounded off the last year and one that I will forever be grateful for.
This November my company Barker PR will be sponsoring The Dental Industry Awards for the fifth year running. An event that celebrates the best in product, service and innovation in our industry and one that we are immensely proud to support. I am also really delighted to have Coppafeel as our chosen charity partner that evening and to raising further awareness of their fantastic work.
To find out more about Coppafeel visit www.coppafeel.org.
