Being 'Breast Aware' saved my life

Oct 4 2007 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

Maxine spotted the early signs of cancer – could you? Emma Johnson reports

AS MAXINE SHISSELLE dressed in front of the mirror, she spotted something odd in her reflection. There was definitely something unusual about her left breast.

It looked bruised and the skin around it was all pinched. She instinctively knew something was not right.

Her diligence would save her life because weeks later, as she sat in an examination room at Liverpool’s Linda McCartney Centre, Maxine was diagnosed with lobular carcinoma – a form of breast cancer.

“Being ‘breast aware’ definitely affects at what stage your breast cancer is diagnosed, I knew that mark was one of the symptoms of breast cancer. Had I not noticed or ignored the mark, I would have had a more serious outlook,” says Maxine, who lives in Woolton.

“I’m so glad that I was breast aware. Many women assume that you have to feel a lump but I didn’t have one initially and I had had a mammogram the previous year, which was clear, but my particular cancer apparently is hard to detect on mammograms. You still need to check yourself.

“The day I was told it was early breast cancer I felt so lucky, strange as it may sound, but had I not been so vigilant and aware of the signs things probably would have been different.”

Following her initial diagnosis, via a needle biopsy, Maxine was told that the position of the tumour meant she would have to undergo a mastectomy. But, thanks to her early detection, the tumour was at stage one and chemotherapy was optional.

“I decided to go for it, isn’t it better to take as much help as possible to avoid a recurrence?” she says.

Just over a year and a half ago, Maxine underwent reconstructive surgery and although she still has to take the anti-cancer drug Tamoxifen and go for regular check-ups, these days her lifestyle – she is a painter – is generally no different than it was before she had breast cancer. Except perhaps in one way. The treatment and support she received there inspired Maxine to become a fundraiser for the Linda McCartney Centre.

“From diagnosis, my treatment was under the care of the Linda McCartney Centre. The consultants and staff approach you with sensitivity, from day one I felt safe, that someone was going to wrap their arms around me and make it all go away,” says Maxine, who is the co-ordinator for the Field of Women event next summer, which will be officially launched in Liverpool on Tuesday.

Taking its lead from Australia’s Field of Women, the event aims to gather 10,000 women together at Liverpool Cricket Club in the shape of a giant woman raising much- needed funds for the Linda McCartney Centre along the way.

“This event means a lot to us ladies who have been affected,” adds Maxine. “Ever since I was diagnosed, I felt a bond with others in the same position; we feel that connection and I believe that we are there for each other,” she says.

“Although I would obviously have preferred not to have gone through all this, I would not be doing what I am now. I do believe in fate and perhaps this was supposed to happen.”

emmajohnson@dailypost.co.uk

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