I met the beautiful Yvonne Hughes when she reached out to me asking if I would kindly donate a prize to the fundraiser her support group were having. Of course, I said YES! Yvonne and I became fast friends. We live in the same area, were treated at the same hospital and have the same oncologist, whom we both absolutely adore.
Yvonne’s journey with breast cancer led her to write a wonderful book called One Piece of Advice. It is filled with…yep…advice; and great advice it is. A really great read.
I asked Yvonne what her shade of Pink is and she responded…..
‘What is your shade of pink and why?’ wasn’t a question I could answer easily. I’m an over-thinker, and us over-thinkers worry. We don’t ever want a glib answer to be misinterpreted.
As well as being an over-thinker, I’m also a big believer in science and research. So, I researched my pinks. Ladies, I am delighted to tell you that I am claiming ‘champagne pink’ as my shade.
It’s not too pink (the pinkness of breast cancer can be overwhelming for a lot of us) and it conjures up lovely images of female friendship, celebration and a few laughs. This is important, because good things can come out of bad times, and for me the best thing was all the wonderful people I’ve met.
You can follow Yvonne on .
This is Yvonne’s story
Before my diagnosis, I was a stay-at-home mum and I was just starting to look at options for going back to work. (Spoiler alert: that didn’t happen!) I had previously been on a contract and didn’t have a job waiting for me, so I was taking my time. My husband and I had plans for a second child, so I didn’t feel like I needed to rush.
My cancer is always hard to talk about. I found my lump through self-examination, and I had pretty crappy timing – I did it at night time, when my husband was travelling for work and my parents were away on holidays. But the reality for many women is that we’re so busy looking after other people, that we don’t find as much time for ourselves as we should. I did my self-examination at night because my son was in bed and everything that needed doing was done.
My cancer turned out to be invasive and had spread to a couple of lymph nodes. I had a total mastectomy and axillary clearance. Once I’d healed from surgery, I had chemo, radio, Herceptin and am still pill-popping my Tamoxifen. It was pretty overwhelming at times, but I’m continually grateful that there are so many options available.
Honestly, I didn’t always cope so well. You know how sometimes people who are struggling say ‘I have good days and no-so-good days’? Well, it’s a lot like that with cancer treatment. Some days I would be able to scarf-up and go out, other days it was a struggle to not lie in bed crying all day.
But, because I knew I was struggling, I did everything in my power to help myself. I spoke to my breast care nurse or my doctor whenever I was worried about something. I had regular sessions with the oncology psychologist and every month I went to the Young Women’s support group at my hospital.
I knew that exercise was beneficial, however with the chemo and radiotherapy side effects, I struggled to do much more than walking. However, the breast cancer ‘journey’ doesn’t end after active treatment, and now I incorporate a lot of exercise into my daily life. This has been tremendously beneficial, and I have had significant improvement with my range of movement, anxiety and lymphoedema.
While I was going through treatment, I heard a lot of stories about people who had made life-altering changes after diagnosis, and to be honest, at the time I couldn’t relate to them at all. All I wanted was to get back to the life I’d been living before the Big C. Nothing had been taken for granted, I didn’t feel like I needed to make improvements, I loved my family and the most important thing for me was to get back to being a wife and mother.
But life is never the same after cancer. That’s not to say that all the differences have to be bad; they don’t. Loads of positives have come out of my breast cancer journey – I have a book that I’m very proud of, I exercise more regularly and at a higher level, and I feel very lucky to have such a strong, supportive community around me.
Writing my book definitely helped me. It was very therapeutic to get all the thoughts out of my head and onto paper (or computer!).
It’s hard for me to describe the feelings I get when I receive feedback on my book. It’s a mixture of emotions – I feel so much empathy for those who are going through a tough time, but I’m so honoured and grateful that they feel a connection to my book. Whenever someone lets me know that my book helped them overcome feelings like isolation, fear and emotional distress, I feel that my struggle was all worthwhile.
If I had to pick a proudest moment, it would be the time that a woman went to her doctor after she heard me speaking about my book. She’d had a lump she was worried about, but had been too scared to go to the doctor. After she heard me speak she decided that she would go and get it checked, and it did turn out to be cancerous. It was caught in time and she was able to get treatment.
One Piece of Advice is available online and at selected bookstores. (Most bookstores will order it in for you if you ask nicely J)
You can also download the ebook from the website and most ebook retailers.
The absolutely gorgeous Yvonne, author of One Piece of Advice.
This 'little' book is full of amazing big advice.
