Last week, the actor Lucy Davis, best known for her role as Dawn Tinsley in The Office, revealed that she had metastatic breast cancer. She had found a tiny lump eighteen months ago, but the cancer had already spread to her bones by the time she was diagnosed. The 53-year-old shared on Instagram that it’s too late for chemotherapy and she’s going to make the most of the time she has left. Her news sent chills down my spine. In 2015, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and I live in fear of that phone call telling me that it’s back and I can’t be cured.
I was a 40-year-old breast surgeon at the time. I had no risk factors for breast cancer and no family history. I’d just got into triathlons and I rarely drank alcohol. I also never checked my breasts as I thought it would never happen to me, and I was too young for screening. I’d spent a lot of time breaking bad news, but it’s completely different when you’re on the other side.
Within a couple of weeks, I was sitting in a chemo chair, watching the drugs drip into my veins. My life was put on hold for a year of treatment whilst I came to terms with infertility and an instant menopause. Two local recurrences cost me my career. I retired for ill health reasons when I was 43. The life I’d dreamed of having was over. This is the impact of getting breast cancer when you’re forty instead of seventy.
