In June 2026, whilst on maternity leave, my sister attended the GP thinking she had mastitis, a breastfeeding related illness. Unfortunately, she found out the lump was in fact breast cancer.

After learning as much as possible about her kind of breast cancer she discovered that the best treatment options weren’t yet available on the nhs and so every three weeks she travels abroad to Madrid to receive treatment, which is taxing for her but worth it to receive the best possible treatment.

At home in Swansea she's looked after by the wonderful community at The Old Mill Holistic Cancer Support Centre who offer holistic support and counselling for anyone who is going through cancer.

They offer everything from counselling, nutrition advice to treatments.This is all provided by qualified volunteers who are trained in holistic cancer care and each therapy works well alongside conventional treatment, providing relief from side effects, boosting the immune system, relaxing the body and mind. They offer oncology massages, reflexology, reiki, acupuncture, aromatherapy, all different treatments to help patients relax, ease pain, calm your nervous system and deal with the stress that cancer can bring.

My sister has a treatment with them every week which, as a charity, is free at the point of need and available because of donations. I would like to fundraise for Old Mill not only for the help they bring to my sister but also for everyone that's struggling through the stress and pains of cancer treatment.

Any donation that you can afford to give would be amazing but if anything it's important that you check yourself and make sure to go to a GP if there are any irregularities. Cancer is on the rise in younger people. My sister's GP was amazing and referred her straight to a breast clinic. Unfortunately the breast clinic were terrible once they heard she was breastfeeding and assumed it was breast feeding related, which delayed the process by weeks. So I would say to make sure you advocate for yourself. When you’re checking, get to know what’s normal for you so that if anything changes in how it feels you can advocate for yourself.

If you would like to follow my sister's journey beating breast cancer she has started an Instagram account that helps navigate people to showing what cancer patients go through. @amy.c.bond

Thank you viewing this page, look after yourself!