One in seven women in the Netherlands gets it breast cancer. Twenty percent of these are under the age of fifty. In the last Grace three young women tell their stories, including Half (35).
Same day
“Actually, I already felt it when I was 29. It was a hard piece of tissue in my right breast. The doctor heard it too, but he doubted it was anything. Partly because there was no breast cancer in my family and I was very sporty. For my peace of mind, he had me have a mammogram in the hospital. Nothing came of it, but when two years later I felt a new, hard lump in my nipple, I went to the doctor again. This time he thought it was a cyst or an inflamed capillary. However, he referred me for another mammogram. The next day I received the results over the phone. I was at work and the online doctor left immediately. He said I had breast cancer and it was very serious. The same day I was in his studio. “
I’m dying?
“To determine where the cancer was, an MRI had to be done first. I also achieved this quickly and my chest turned out to be full cancer sit down. My doctor immediately said that my breasts needed to be amputated and that I probably would not be able to have children due to chemotherapy. So what did I prefer: freezing eggs or embryos? I suddenly panicked. Amputation, chemotherapy, egg freezing ..? It went too fast for me. I was stuck with the news that I had breast cancer, but suddenly I thought: Am I going to die? My doctor answered this question very concretely: “With everything we do, we hope to keep you alive for as long as possible.”
Freeze the eggs
“At home I discussed the options with my friend. Since he lived abroad, we had a long distance relationship, but at that time he was with me. Like me, he was in shock. We had never talked about children, but we wanted to move in together. Suddenly we had to deal with the freezing of eggs or embryos. I said I would understand if he ran away screaming, but he didn’t want to hear about it. He was there for me no matter what. “
“Because I was not comfortable with my doctor’s way of communicating, I asked for a second opinion from a specialized hospital. There I received the same diagnosis, but the communication was much more pleasant. Meanwhile, I had already started a three-week IVF process in the first hospital. Some of my eggs have been frozen, in case the chemotherapy was actually harmful to my fertility. Since the MRI did not clearly show how many tumors there were in my breast, an amputation was performed for the first time in the new hospital. After that I went through sixteen rounds of chemotherapy.
Good news
“At my request, my left breast was also removed six months after the mastectomy. I’m very sober, so I didn’t find it difficult. I would rather not have natural breasts than not have them at all. And also: with a reconstruction, even the first one could be ‘solved’ again “.
“The silicone I have now is soft and natural, I’m used to it. However, the last few years have been incredibly tough. Not just for me, but also for my boyfriend. From the moment I was sick, he has stayed with me in the Netherlands and this has greatly strengthened our relationship. That I got my first period again this summer after chemo and hormone therapy was a nice confirmation. It means that I hope in the future to be able to have a child naturally and I am very happy about it ”.
Text: Renée Brouwer | Image: iStock
