Teacher, Kelly accessed counselling and support at Blythe House in spring 2023 after her diagnosis with breast cancer in January.
The mum-of-two from New Mills explained: ‘I was getting in the shower back in November 2022 when I put my arm up and spotted a little lump next to my breast; near where my breast met my armpit. I had a feel but I wasn’t too worried; I just thought it was a raised gland, but there wasn’t one on the other side. I mentioned it to my husband and decided to go and get it checked out.
‘My GP checked me over and made an urgent referral to Macclesfield Hospital. Within two weeks, I underwent scans, mammograms and three biopsies. We had a horrendous wait over Christmas to find out the results, and I was told I had HER2+* breast cancer in January.
‘I started with six rounds of chemotherapy but also had drugs administered to targeted the HER2+ specifically. Then I underwent surgery to have a mastectomy, and following that, I had radiotherapy.
‘I met a friend and former colleague for a catch up who’d retired from my school. She’d had breast cancer previously and she asked me if I’d been in touch with Blythe House. I queried her question; I thought hospices were places that people go to die. She told me absolutely not; that the hospice provided so many different services, and levels of support.
‘I got in touch with the hospice and came in with my husband to chat through all our worries and concerns. I attended information and support sessions, and the Breast Friends breast cancer support group, which were really helpful to learn from and chat to the hospice team, and meet likeminded people.
‘I also referred myself to the counselling service where I had seven sessions with Kate. The thing with being a mum is that I wanted to shield my family from what I was actually feeling. My son is 15 and my daughter is 11, and my husband was of course very worried too. I can only imagine what it’s like to watch people that you love go through something so horrendous, and the fear you must feel, so I tried to stay positive and cheerful all the time.
‘Counselling was a chance for me to say how I really felt, and talk through how bad it was. It was really useful for me to have somebody who I could talk to, and be completely honest with. I did not have to worry about upsetting anyone or hurting anyone’s feelings.
‘I am in a good place now; my prognosis is very good and there’s a relatively low chance of my cancer coming back.
‘The support from the hospice has been absolutely brilliant, and the fact that it’s somewhere local too. For a lot of cancer services, you have to travel into Manchester, Stockport or Macclesfield, so it’s really handy to have something on our door step here in the High Peak.
‘When you’re first diagnosed with cancer, you feel so isolated. Despite the adverts that we all see, about one in two of us being diagnosed in a lifetime, I didn’t know anyone that I was really close to, and there was no one in my family. I felt totally on my own and plunged into a whole new world; one that I did not want to be a part of, but I had no choice. The hospice gave me the opportunity to be with people in similar situations, who understand a little more about this world. The hospice made me feel a little bit less scared and worried.’
