'Coping with cancer as a single mum was the biggest challenge of my life'
SAMANTHA VALE, 37, a blogger and choreographer from Buckinghamshire, was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was just 35 – and a single parent of two young children.Mum Samantha Vale reveals her battle with cancel which led her to have a double mastectomy
2015, Lee and I always maintained an amicable relationship. He had the kids one evening per week, but being a self-employed single mum was exhausting.Then, one morning in August 2018, my life suddenly turned upside down when I felt aI reassured myself that it would be nothing to worry about at 35, I was fit and healthy, I didn’t smoke, rarely drank and wasTwo weeks later, when the kids were at school, I went for an ultrasound, mammogram and biopsy alone.
I didn’t want to burden my 60-year-old mum, Pauline, too much as she’d been battling mesothelioma cancer since 2016, but my dad, Adrian, 57, and stepmum, Julie, 54, came to as many appointments as they could with me. When I woke up, I cried as I was told that I wouldn’t need chemo as all the tumours had been removed.
I tried to schedule in work on the weeks that I guessed I might be feeling OK, as I knew it would hit us hard financially.I wanted Jack and Molly to see me choosing to do this. Still, I sobbed throughout the appointment. I asked the kids whether they wanted me to wear a hat on the school run but they said no.As I stepped into the playground I felt Molly’s little hand tighten around mine.
I finished chemo in December and had a course of radiotherapy in February this year. I’ve been told I have a “fair” chance of the cancer returning, but an 80% chance I’ll still be here in 10 years, so I try to live in the moment.
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