Breast cancer survivor Christine Parish in her living room

October is breast cancer awareness month. Survivor of the disease Christine Parish tells Olivia Abbott about her experience – and how she has rebuilt her life

Breast cancer survivor Christine Parish in her living room

When she was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago, it was ‘a pretty bleak time’ says Christine Parish. Sitting in her comfortable living room, it’s hard to imagine the devastation such a diagnosis must have caused this ultra-slim, extremely young-looking 53 year old.

Now, Christine appears full of health and vigour – and at the time we talk, she is looking forward to her wedding, in two weeks, and the honeymoon to follow. And she has used her experiences to change her life. ‘During that dreadful time of the diagnosis and treatment, I kept telling myself “Something good has to come out of this – I have to change and it has to be for the better.” And it has.’

After her diagnosis, Christine went through six months of chemotherapy followed by a mastectomy and immediate breast reconstruction. Through it all, her partner Andrew, who she had then known for just a year, was right by her side. ‘He was absolutely fantastic and has continued to be,’ she says. In fact, it was Andrew who insisted that Christine have a private consultation at Addenbrookes. So she gave up her job as a teacher in Northampton, and moved into Andrew’s cottage in Fenstanton.

Search for support

After her treatment Christine attended sessions at Wallace Cancer Care, a local charity that provides support, counselling and therapies. ‘They were very supportive,’ she says, ‘and it was really useful to meet women who’d been through the same thing and who were just a little bit further on than me, to realise what comes next and that actually there is life after cancer treatment.’

It was in discussion with other women at Wallace that Christine realised what she wanted to do next. ‘After a reconstruction, you have to wear a post-surgery bra day and night,’ she says. ‘I wore a very uncomfortable sports bra, and by the end of the compulsory three months’ wear I was ready for a bra-buying extravaganza.’

But after surgery, you can’t wear wired bras, and Christine was dismayed to find that the choice of non-wired bras was pretty much non-existent. ‘There were two things that, going through my chemo and surgery, I really looked forward to,’ she says. ‘One was having hair long enough to go into a salon and have a haircut – and the other was buying some beautiful lingerie. So it came as a shock to realise that it wasn’t quite as easy as that.’

And Christine wasn’t alone in her experiences. ‘We set up a focus group at Wallace to find out whether other women had had problems as well, and we found that as well as there not being a huge choice on the high street, women felt that - not that they got poor service, but they found it difficult to talk to someone who hadn’t been through a similar thing.’

A sense of trust

So Christine decided to set up her own business sourcing and selling wire-free bras. She trained in bra fitting with Royce Lingerie, and now holds consultations every week at Wallace Cancer Care, also does home visits, and has an online service.

‘Because I’ve been through some of their experiences or a similar experience, feel they can talk to me,’ Christine says, ‘and the atmsophere at Wallace means they feel comfortable to come to me, there’s a sense of trust there. The nurses at the Breast Centre at Addenbrookes now refer women to me for fittings - it’s great that they come to me.’

So Christine has indeed made something good come of her experience, and that is her message to other breast cancer sufferers: ‘Know that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and there is life after treatment,’ she says.

[blob] For information about Christine’s bra-fitting service, call 01480 889682 or visit softlysoftly-lingerie.co.uk.

[blob] For information about Wallace Cancer Care, call 01223 249220, wallacecancercare.org.uk