Firstly I want to thank everyone for their support. Whether that be with well wishes, prayers, love and all the beautiful gifts I’ve received until now. As always you can follow the whole journey through my Tiktok @safa.mirza.

On April 21st this year, I celebrated my 33rd birthday by the grace of God surrounded by my family and friends. It was an amazing night without a care in the world.

That was very much short lived. 2 days later I received the news that the lump I had found a month earlier and had biopsied was in fact a grade 3 breast cancer. It had already spread to my lymph nodes giving me a diagnosis of Stage 3, Invasive Ductal Carcinoma with Lymph Node Involvement.

Since then the NHS have moved efficiently in their efforts to investigate further with MRI, PET and CT Scans.

I was then facing a horrendous risk of being sent into early menopause as a side effect from chemotherapy. However, due to my age and diagnosis I was blessed to have been offered IVF treatment in order to retrieve and store my eggs for 10 years. So over ten days I injected myself with hormones and on day 10 I had a small surgery to remove the eggs. Out of the 4 they managed to successfully remove, 2 survived and were made into embryos before being put into storage. Although the remainder of this treatment may not be funded, the option is there to have more of my own children by way of surrogacy or if I can, to carry them even if my ovaries stop working.

Up until now I had never been to hospital for any illness. Since my diagnosis I have been poked and prodded at regular blood tests, been exposed to over 4 years worth of the average humans radiation, and had 2 surgeries pumped with fentanyl and god knows what else.

The first of these surgeries was a lumpectomy, axillary node clearance and mammary node removal. I had a drain fitted during surgery and over the next 6 days, I took my drain everywhere with me before it was removed. Due to having my lymph nodes removed I am forever at a high risk of lymphedema which is a build up of fluid in my arm resulting in swelling and pain.

The second surgery was due to the margin around the tumour. It came back not quite clear of cancerous cells and so they had to go back in and take more of the tissue around where the tumour once was.

Next in this journey is chemotherapy. Now this is where my heart sinks. Up until now I have been so positive about the whole diagnosis. I have leant into my dark humour and relied heavily on jokes and sarcasm to get me through the emotional stress. But I know that chemotherapy is where the journey will get hard for me. As I won’t be able to hide the physical torment that my body will go through. The fatigue, weakness, weight gain/loss, loss of appetite, nausea, constipation/diarrhoea and hair loss.

But this is where I sincerely ask for your help.

Being diagnosed with cancer at any age is life altering. It robs you of your identity, and in my case has already and will continue to rob me of my femininity. From hormone injecting, having to go through IVF egg retrieval surgery, disformaties from surgery scars, losing my hair, eyelashes, eyebrows. It’s a hard old road. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very much unphased by the way this will affect me aesthetically but I do worry in turn of feeling less like a woman and less like myself.

So I ask with gratitude and love for any donation little or large to facilitate the purchase of a comfortable, human hair wig. These can cost upwards of £300 with some costing between £700 and £800.

This will give me the power to take control of when and how I lose my hair by braving the shave on October 3rd under my own terms and conditions and not from those determined by the cancer. My hair will then be donated to the Little Princess Trust in support of children to have their dream wigs created for cancer and other hair loss conditions .

With any funds donated I hope to purchase one or two lower-end wigs for myself and with any additional funds, i will put them towards having zippers put into the left arm of all my jumpers for ease of access to my PICC line so I don’t have to freeze my buns off during treatment.

If you know me, I have been employed since I was 15 from working in Wimpy all the way up to going to college, university and onto my role now. I have no plans to slow down in my career now but on the off chance that it becomes physically impossible, your donations will give me the chance to do things with my amazing daughter Laila on the good days, if I do get to a stage where I have to stop working or my pay is effected.

After chemotherapy will come radiotherapy and hormone therapy for the next 5 years following treatment.

For now, let the games begin.

Thank you again for your support. I am forever indebted to each and every one of you ❤️