SARAH – To understand, we need to go back a little. My daughter had a serious accident at nursery. I was breastfeeding her at the time. She was in hospital for a month and no longer wanted to eat: she was extremely anxious, she stopped walking and talking, and she wouldn’t drink milk anymore. After that, I had mastitis again and again. A year later, the midwives I work with on the maternity ward told me that perhaps I should get it checked out, even though we tend to think that breastfeeding offers protection and that it’s impossible to get breast cancer at such a young age.

I had an examination, then an ultrasound, and was referred for a mammogram. That’s when the doctor explained the treatment plan to me: chemotherapy, a mastectomy and then radiotherapy.

After that incredibly brief consultation, which lasted just two and a half minutes, I had to mentally prepare myself to stop breastfeeding my daughter, who was two at the time. I had to explain to her that Mummy was ill and that we had to stop breastfeeding because there were bad cells in my body and the doctors were going to help me fight them.