Life goes on

Val Evans was a supporter of Macmillan nurses long before she needed their help.

The 51-year-old was diagnosed with breast cancer almost five years ago but it wasn't until she attended a Macmillan coffee morning that the gravity of her situation hit her.

Val, a financial assistant, said: "I used to look forward to the World's Biggest Coffee Morning events because they make brilliant cakes and coffee. It was great knowing that you could go along and taste the goodies and help the charity at the same time.

"But the year I went just after I'd been diagnosed I thought 'Oh my God, this is me.'

"I suddenly realised what it all meant and got very upset."

When Val first detected a lump under her arm in June 1998, she didn't even consider it could be cancerous. "Cancer was the last thing on my mind at that point," she said. "I didn't feel worried about it, and was happy to go to hospital to have a biopsy to remove it.

"My doctor asked me then how I would feel if the lump turned out to be cancerous. But I just thought cancer was something that wouldn't happen to me.

"Then a few weeks later I saw a consultant who told me it was breast cancer. I couldn't take it in. It felt like he wasn't really talking to me.

"It sounds strange but even though I could hear the doctor saying it was cancer it was as though he was telling somebody else the news. It seemed as though it didn't have anything to do with me.

"It took a few days to sink in. I think that's why the Macmillan coffee morning had such a big impact on me at that time. Everyone was there to raise money to help cancer sufferers and suddenly I realised that I was one. The realisation came as an awful shock."

Six weeks after being diagnosed Val underwent a mastectomy.

"It was a horrendous wait until I was told the date," she said. "I wasn't worried about losing the breast, it was just the waiting and not knowing when I would be treated.

"When I eventually went to Princess Margaret Hospital to have the breast removed, I actually felt pleased that at last somebody was going to do something."

Val, who has been a member of the Swindon Macmillan committee for 18 months, spent four days in hospital following the operation.

She then started a six-session course of chemotherapy and was introduced to a Macmillan nurse.

She said: "Elaine Perry, the Macmillan nurse, was brilliant. I saw her every three weeks and knew that she was only a phone call away if ever I needed anything.

"She would phone up after my chemo sessions to make sure I was okay. She became like a real friend who came round for a natter and a cup of tea, but she had all the answers as well.

"After having chemo every three weeks I had to travel to Oxford to have radiotherapy every day.

"The travelling tired me out more than the treatment. The radiotherapy itself only lasts a few minutes but it was the hours sat in a car every day that did me in.

"The radiotherapy was physically tiring but the chemo made me physically ill. I had to remember that each session I went through was one less for the future."

But Val said her lowest point was when her hair fell out.

She said: "After the first chemo session I still had all my hair.

"I'd heard people say that normally it starts to fall out gradually, but I thought I was going to be okay. Then one day I was washing my hair over the bath and the whole lot just came out in my hand.

"It was the worst part of everything I had gone through. When you have no hair it is obvious there is something wrong with you.

"When I had the operation to remove my breast it didn't really bother me as I was never that big up top but when you have no hair it is outwardly noticeable to everyone.

"It really brought it home to me that I had cancer.

"When I went on holiday with my husband Stephen in June I was a skinhead, but by September I had some hair to comb.

"It felt a bit weird when it came back again but I was lucky it all grew back evenly. There weren't any bald patches."

In the four years since Val's chemotherapy ended her scans have come back clear of cancer.

She says she now feels 90 per cent fit, although is more susceptible to colds and coughs.

Val said: "The chemo kills the cancer but it also weakens your immune system.

"I never used to have colds and now they seem to drag on but it's just something you get used to. I don't think I'll ever get back to being 100 per cent fit.

"People say that I'm brave because of what I've been through but I think most cancer sufferers agree that you don't feel brave.

"We have no choice but to keep on battling through.

"You never know where the cancer may strike next so you have to just get on with your life."

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