Fundraising for the amazing Breast Cancer Now with support from the Starfleet International Region 20 chapter USS Mercia.

Melissa's Story - The Journey So Far

Early in the school summer holidays I was playing outside with my daughter, Heidi.

She ran into me and bumped against my chest. I found this quite painful and thought that I would only have a bruise.

A few days had passed I felt that area becoming harder and very sore. It didn’t go away. My gut feeling told me something was not right so I went to doctor and she immediately arranged an emergency appt to see the breast care team in the local hospital.

From there I had biopsies, mammograms and scans and they found a "suspicious lesion". I had to wait for the results, which was a horrendous and nerve-wracking time! So unbearable.

Two weeks later I got my appointment and I was told I had grade 3 breast cancer - grade three! Worryingly it had also spread to my lymph nodes. I was booked in for surgery within two weeks and this was such a scary time BUT then I found Breast Cancer Now.

I read some of the real stories that were on the site and felt some comfort as it gave me more information on what I could expect. BCN provided more insights into what would happen in regards to surgery and subsequent treatments through listening to other people’s journeys.

Here I am five weeks after surgery. Thanks to Breast Cancer Now I had so much information I needed to help me come to terms with all the changes and to understand, in detail, the chemotherapy, radiotherapy and other treatments that were on offer, that I would be going through.

I feel I’m lucky in the sense that it was found but if it wasn’t for my daughter bumping into me I think it would have been a different story!

In Breast Cancer Now's website it illustrates how to check your chest area and also warning signs to check for. I did notice a few of the changes though on the list and thought this list needs to be shared. I didn’t see or feel a lump until my daughter fell on me. That thing was buried deep!

Now I constantly share information via TikTok and other social media platforms to help raise awareness. You can NEVER be too careful or check too often.

This is their first online streamed Star Trek event and as part of it they are hoping to raise awareness and money for this charity. Please support to reach our goal before, during and after their event. Details of how to watch will be posted here.