Corrective breast surgery

I was sorry to read about the plight of Georgina Truman in the Western Gazette. As a former breast cancer sufferer, thankfully now in the all clear, it is a predicament that I am all too familiar with. Back in 2004, when I was first diagnosed. It was the devastating effect that it had on my personal life that caused me me the most anguish, as I had just got engaged to be married, and was self-employed. Not only did my breast cancer destroy my relationship, but I did not have the luxury of being able to take any time off work. Georgina is quite right, chemotherapy can be extremely gruelling.

On not being satisfied with the options offered to me through the NHS, and some of the treatment I had received, and because I wanted to get the whole thing over and done with, and get on with my life, not waiting for months on end between bouts of hospital visits and further surgery, I started to consider other options.

Firstly I went to France, where the opinion was very much one of ‘this is what you have, this is how we are going to deal with it’, take it or leave it.

Quite by chance I bumped into an Indian surgeon on one of my hospital visits. This culminated in me deciding to go to India for my surgery, the best decision of my entire life. For the first time since being diagnosed I felt in control and that I was being listened to. The outcome was that during surgery, lasting 7 hours, I had three surgeons who carried out a mastectomy, a reconstruction and a reduction on the other breast, all in the one operation. Despite a spell in intensive care, I was back on my feet and home with 2 weeks, ready to get on with my life, with virtually no visible scarring. In order to fund this I had to put my house on the market, and I realise that this is not an option available to everyone.

In the case of Mrs. Truman, I can fully appreciate her frustrations. What must not be underestimated is the psychological impact of physical disfigurement, both on her and her family. 

I do however have some sympathy with the CCG. What they are faced with is increasing funding cuts and a much higher demand for services. There is only so much money to go around and some tough decisions need to be made, however unpalatable. 

In my own case, I am all too aware that the breast implant that was inserted after my mastectomy does have a limited life span and its removal is something I have started to consider, as it will leave me with very lopsided breasts. I have already decided that when the time comes I shall have both breasts chopped off, even if it means having to take out a bank loan to pay for it.

I do not know what Mrs. Truman’s financial position is but, should her appeals to the CCG not be successful, I would be happy to help her explore fund raising options to enable her to undergo the surgery she wants.