Loretta Nolan, was diagnosed with breast cancer in September 2021. Loretta chose not to have reconstruction of her breast after her mastectomy, and the bra fitting service played a huge part in her journey. When your normal changes, and your body looks different it is nice to have someone compassionate to help you feel a little more like yourself again, it’s a new normal, and that’s ok too. 

The first sign that something wasn’t quite right was when I noticed that my left nipple became inverted, and on closer examination I discovered a lump above my nipple on the 14th of September 2021. I was referred to a consultant and along with being examined I had a mammogram, scan and a biopsy. We were brought back in for the results, but by then I think I knew in my heart that I had breast cancer.

Looking back on that time I felt lost, I wondered how I was going to fight this and was concerned about how my husband and children were going to face this. I was mostly worried about how this would affect my family and how we would navigate everyone’s emotions, feelings, and heartache. I have to say at this point of diagnosis nothing seemed real. I still looked and felt the same and it was hard to comprehend what lay ahead of us all, so I focused on trying to be strong. 

Personally, I had to get into the right head space and think positive, I knew I had a fight on my hands and the question at this point was, am I prepared to fight for my life, for my husband and for my kids, and the answer to that was YES absolutely! So I focused on all the positive stories and knew I was going to be one of them. My husband Artie and my children were absolutely fantastic through this whole journey, I am where I am because of the support and love we have for each other.  

“It’s a new normal, and that’s ok too.”

My treatment plan consisted of 6 months of chemotherapy. After the first three chemotherapy sessions, I had a review with my consultant and oncologist. I found out at this review that my tumour, which was originally 4cms had shrunk by 50% to 2cms. I had a further 3 chemotherapy sessions, and the tumour shrunk a little more. I then had a mastectomy of my left breast and one lymph node removed. After all my treatment I had another review, where I received the news we had all been hoping for, I was cancer free and there was no evidence of any cancer cells in my body.  

I have spoken with other women who have been on this breast cancer journey, and I have to say everyone that I spoke to has been so humble and supportive of my journey.  I spoke to these women at the beginning of my journey, and they all said the same – it is not an easy ride, and some days are harder than others, but you will come out the other end of this stronger.

It was such a relief to discover Cancer Focus and avail of their excellent services, the bra fitting service was exceptional. I chose not to have reconstruction of my left breast, so my appearance was completely alien to me and during my bra fitting I couldn’t have felt more relaxed. I was immediately put at ease by the Cancer Focus team and made to feel and confident and ‘normal’ for want of a better word. The bra fitting service plays a huge part in this journey for anyone going through this, when your normal changes, and your body looks different it is nice to have someone compassionate to help you feel a little more like yourself again, it’s a new normal and that’s ok too.