Breast Cancer and Me - Meet the Real women of Amazing Jane

We hear so many amazing stories from our customers about how they've overcome breast cancer, details about their current journey, and how it's affected women close to them. 

Meet Hayley

Hayley is a HR Whizz and supports HR and Recruitment businesses with admin support. Hayley became a customer in 2022, and reached out to tell us why she loves Amazing Jane.

"This might sound a bit bizarre but do you realize you have created ‘mastectomy’ friendly leisure wear tops?!?!? I had a mastectomy in 2019, without reconstructive surgery so I have a beautiful scar and a flat left chest to show for the scary cancer time. I have since struggled to get tops that ‘sit flat’ on the chest so that even if I bend over in the gym my dignity is still preserved, however my new ROSA top does the job so wonderfully. So thank you thank you for indirectly producing something so wonderful."

My symptom was the one and only, it was the good old lump in my left breast, only pea sized but I felt it and I bloody knew! I didn’t think, I didn’t hesitate, I didn’t wait, I rang the GP immediately and I can’t thank the NHS and the wonders of medicine enough. 

So please please please if you’re not sure about any symptoms, please please please just go and get it checked out. I did and I’ve since gratefully lived life with my wonderful children and hubby, who are each also eternally grateful they still have their mum around, even if it is with a massive cancer shark bite scar.

Meet Lindsay

We met Lindsey a couple of months before we launched Amazing Jane in 2021. Lindsey answered our call for women to be photographed for the brand and we loved her from day one!

Whilst picking a parcel up from us earlier this year, Lindsey shared how a "wonky nipple" sparked a trip to the GP in January 2023, and by the end of January was diagnosed with breast cancer.

As someone we get to see on a fairly regular basis, Lindsey has literally blown us away with her positive attitude. Lindsey really wanted to be included in this to encourage women to look after their breasts, and to get more knowledge on what to look out for. She highly recommends charity "CoppaFeel".

Meet Una

Una has been a customer of Amazing Jane since launch. She tells her story. Una had surgery just last week!

"My sister and I had been watching a TikTok video about a girl rapping menopause symptoms, literally I could have ticked them all at some point over a 6 month period. I could cope with most but I was sleeping less than my usual 4 hours due to hot flushes, and panic attacks were so unlike me, and I thought just a wee chat with the GP might put my mind at rest, she might just have a magic organic, natural remedy that would help! 

I thought whilst I was there I would tell her that I had a little discharge from the nipple but only when I squeezed. I’d had this before after I stopped breast feeding my daughter, and then again 7 years ago which resulted in a mammogram, and biopsy to identify I had a 3rd boob! A benign lump that didn’t require any treatment, so I wasn’t overly concerned.

 I check my breasts regularly for any lumps or changes and there was nothing.
The first thing the GP said was don’t squeeze, but it made her refer me to the breast clinic due to earlier benign lump and rule out anything before we considered HRT. And I’m so grateful she did.

I casually went to the appointment on my own, had a physical examination of the breasts by one of the breast nurses and nothing untoward. But just to make sure she sent me down for a mammogram.Once the images had been taken I was sent back upstairs to the waiting room, then instead of going back in to see the breast nurse I was taken into another room and explained that they would like to do an ultrasound. I had a nurse by my side the whole time talking away about what I do for work and about family. 

It was during the ultrasound that they advised me that they were going to do a biopsy, as they could see something, albeit t very small, they wanted to get it checked out.

This is where my journey began 9 weeks ago, they identified a small area and 1 lymph nodes and confirmed the diagnosis a week later at my next appointment. 

Since then I have had surgery for a mastectomy and reconstruction, I opted to use my own tissue to make the new breast and therefore got a tummy tuck, kind of a bogoff deal there!

I am 1 week on from surgery and moving around as I was before, although my right armpit aches but I can manage this with paracetamol. Today I received the news that the op was a success and everything was removed. I will require chemotherapy and radiotherapy once I have recovered fully from the op, but this is a belts and braces approach to make sure it has gone. 

I check my breasts regularly for any lumps or changes just like the posters advise and there was nothing I could feel, but if I hadn’t squeezed I would be sitting here oblivious reading other people’s stories.

If you’re just not sure, please go and talk to your GP. If you are referred to the breast clinic, take someone with you. If you receive a diagnosis, please don’t google. Talk to the breast nurses or Breast Cancer now, Macmillan or Cancer Research UK. Read the booklets you are given that outline you options. Ask as many questions as you think of, I would think of things then forget so I started to write them down or note them in my phone.

What helped me was speaking to friends, and friends of friends who had had breast cancer, whilst everyone is different and treatment is different, hearing from real woman gave me reassurance.

It’s a lot of information at once if you are diagnosed and then multiple appointments, but the earlier the detection, the better the outcome.
I have cried and that’s okay, I am normally a very positive person, but my diagnosis rocked me at first. But this is only a chapter in my book of life and once all this is done I will look back and see how far I have come. I have also laughed, my partner said he would no longer feel a right tit!"