Second year Tickled Pink president speaks out about her cancer

Just a couple of months ago, Emma won her battle against breast cancer.

The second year has survived years of intense chemotherapy and surgery, and now uses her experiences in the most inspirational way: raising awareness of the disease as President of the Tickled Pink society.

Emma was only 17 when she found a lump in her breast. First it was a small rash, something like a heat rash. She didn’t think it was something to worry about.

Emma said: “I didn’t worry that much, but the lump kept growing and that’s when I decided to go and get a biopsy.”

The results came back saying the lump she had discovered was benign. The doctors assured her it would probably shrink with time.

She added: “They told me to give it three months and it will go away. When I went back home I Googled the hell out of  everything, but it said exactly the same things the doctor had told me. The only thing I found out is it shouldn’t have grown as fast as it was growing, so I sent my results to Bristol. They were the ones who told me it was breast cancer.”

Emma went through six chemotherapy sessions and a small surgery to remove the lump. The doctors told her this was it: she would be fine. But it wasn’t, and she was let down by her doctors again.

“What happened is the surgeon didn’t remove the surrounded tissue to prevent the lumps coming back. So after a few months cancer was back. At that point my doctors advised me to have a mastectomy.”

The doctors removed one of her breasts and she went through chemotherapy.

By then, most people would have given up on being a good student or taking care of anyone but themselves. Not Emma. She finished her A levels, applied to Aber Uni and joined the Tickled Pink society, who make it their job to tackle breast cancer and to raise awareness.

Emma said: “Me and my family have always been supporting  charities, so I think even if I didn’t have cancer I would have still joined Tickle Pink.”

But just when everything seemed to be on the up, cancer came back. Again, Emma had to go through more chemotherapy sessions and another mastectomy.

“The first time I had the mastectomy I felt that I was loosing a big part of myself. But the second time I was just worried about myself. Sometimes families want to keep the illness a ‘family secret’, I don’t know why. I feel we should talk about it, to make awareness, to give support. It is always nice to know you are not alone in this fight. Everybody gave me their support. It was nice having people helping you to be strong.”

After the rollercoaster of shock, fear, and hardships, Emma decided her strength would best be used to support Tickled Pink.

“I join the society for many reasons. Me having breast cancer was just one of them. I want to raise awareness about this, specially to young people. We never think something like this can happen to us, but it can. I feel with Tickled Pink I am doing something. The fact that Aber is a small town works in our favour, because that way it is easy for people to see us and to know more about the society and to get involved.”

After two years of going in and out of hospital,  Emma has finally recovered: she beat cancer. Emma thinks about how much her life has changed through her experience, how much she has changed as a person.

“It can sound cheesy, but it does make you appreciate life more. I look at life in a different way. I learned when people know you have cancer or that you had cancer, they look at you in a different way. By sharing my story I want to let people know, especially young people, that we can all get cancer. And it’s fine to let people know about it. You don’t need to feel ashamed, you are not alone.”

If you want to know more about breast cancer and breast cancer charities visit www.coppafeel.org and breastcancer.org.uk.