HR Administrator Sarah Booth is sharing her cancer story today to encourage colleagues to regularly check themselves for lumps.
With Ideal Standard’s Wellbeing Week taking place from 23 October, Sarah wanted to talk about her journey from discovery through chemotherapy, radiotherapy and now into the post-treatment phase.
She found the lump in her breast by accident in early May 2021 at the age of 46. At the time, her children Eva, Charlie and Wil were aged seven, 12 and 17 respectively.
Following a doctor’s appointment the next morning, Sarah was referred the same day to the Humberside Breast Screening Service and two weeks later she underwent a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy.
On Tuesday 8 June, she received the diagnosis she was dreading. She had triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), Grade 2.
Sarah said: “Those were the worst words I’d ever heard…’I’m sorry, you have breast cancer’. The thoughts were coming to me quickly. Am I going to die soon? Am I going to see my children grow up?
“We were just coming out of COVID and no-one was allowed to come with me so I was on my own when I got the news, and through all the following appointments and treatments.”
TNBC differs from other types of cancer because it tends to grow and spread faster and is likely to have spread by the time it is found. It also has fewer treatment options and tends to have a worse prognosis.
Unlike hormonal breast cancer patients who can take tablets to “switch off” the hormones to prevent recurrences, those with TNBC cannot take anything.
MRI and PET Scans showed that Sarah’s cancer had not spread and she started having chemotherapy treatment every three weeks from the end of July.
“I started to lose my hair about two weeks in,” said Sarah. “I decided to shave my head as it was falling out into my tea and things like that.
“That was one of the hardest things for me as I had always worn my hair below my shoulders. The hairdresser came to my house and I had some friends there too.
“I was really struggling to go through with it so my son Charlie, who had lovely curly hair at the time, jumped up and said, ‘I’ll have my head shaved first and then you can have yours done’.”
Sarah and Charlie are pictured below with their shaven heads.
Sarah’s last course of chemotherapy came at the end of November, followed by a lumpectomy in January to remove what was left of the cancer.
She was then told she was “NED” – no evidence of disease – and underwent intense radiotherapy every day for five days in the May in a bid to ensure no cancerous cells were remaining.
To mark the end of her treatment and the start of the next part of her life, Sarah “rang the bell” (see top photo) at Castle Hill Hospital near Hull on 13 May 2022.
This involved literally ringing a bell in front of other patients, visitors and staff, who all applauded, and is an international symbol of the completion of treatment for cancer.
Sarah returned to work early in June 2022 and is now on the five-year follow-up programme for breast cancer which includes a mammogram every year. The first two to three years are the most dangerous in terms of the cancer recurring but after five years the risk is reduced to the same as the general public.
Sarah said: “For me, all the nurses, consultants and other staff were amazing all the way through my treatment and still are if I ever have the need to ring the breast care clinic. My colleagues have been wonderful and Ideal Standard has been very supportive too.”
She added: “It’s so important for women and men to check themselves regularly and to make an appointment straight away if you find anything, not to leave it thinking it’ll go away.
“Most of the time it’s nothing to worry about but if it is the worst case then treatment can be started quickly, giving you the best outcome possible. Every day matters with cancer.”