October is breast cancer awareness month, a time when those who have suffered with cancer, or whose lives have been impacted by the disease, come together to raise awareness and money to fund life-saving research.
One mum, who is currently battling breast cancer for the second time, has found a particularly unique way to raise awareness – through the release of her new book.
Cancer survivor and public speaker Emma Campbell, 47, recently published her first book, All That Followed, which takes readers on an emotional journey from her initial cancer diagnosis to the present day.
The mum-of-four had previously blogged about her life and cancer diagnosis, so felt that writing her whole story down was a "nautral progression".
Emma’s story begins when she and her husband, Marc, decided they wanted to try for another baby.
The couple already had a son, named Jake, but were hoping having a second child would save their rocky marriage.
After several miscarriages, they tried IVF and Emma eventually fell pregnant – with triplets, two boys and a girl.
Shortly after the birth of Ella, Louis and Theo in 2010, the marriage broke down and soon Emma found herself a single parent to four young children.
It was a tiring time and to make matters worse, during a late night feed for the babies, she’d found a lump under her arm.
"I had felt changes in my breast but I’d ignored them because of everything else going on, and probably out of fear," she told Mirror Online.
"I was expressing for the triplets, I was exhausted and completely consumed by the babies and having just had IVF it was quite easy to put the changes down to the hormone treatment and all the fertility treatment I’d just gone through.
"It wasn’t until I’d felt a lump under my arm one night when I was feeding that I suddenly thought ‘oh gosh this is probably lymph nodes’ and with the changes in the boob, it all suddenly clicked."
Her world was turned upside down when doctors told her the lump was actually a 5cm tumour and she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She said: "It all happened very, very quickly. It was one day when I went from seeing my GP to seeing a consultant who then sent me for a mammogram, ultrasound and then it was clear I needed a biopsy.
"They decided they would shrink the tumour with chemotherapy before doing the surgery to remove it, so I had six rounds of chemo, then they removed it, took all the lymph nodes out and after several weeks of recovery I then had several weeks of daily radiotherapy, plus 18 rounds of drugs."
Treatment was successful and things started to improve for Emma – she even found love again, with a builder named Dave, who she met during an appearance on 60 Minute Makeover.
But just after meeting her new man, things fell apart again as her cancer returned four years after she was first diagnosed.
"The second time it presented itself as a rash on my breast which again, and me being me, I kind of desperately tried to come up with another reason for what it might be – had I changed washing powder? Was I suddenly allergic to something? I’d been exercising quite a lot maybe I’d strained something?"
This time around, Emma’s cancer was in her skin.
"It wasn’t a case of me having a lump they could remove, it was straight back on the chemo, I had eight cycles of chemo which actually felt much more brutal than the chemo from the first time around."
Four years later she’s in remission but must still visit the hospital every three weeks for combination therapy. She also has a monthly injection in her tummy and has to take a daily tablet.
Emma explained: "It’s all about shutting down the hormones for me as my cancer is hormone positive."
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After sharing her own "crazy" experience in her book, the mum is keen to encourage others to make sure they don’t ignore any niggling feelings or changes in their bodies.
"I’m not a great example of someone who rushed to the doctor," she admitted. "On both occasions I kind of tried to bury my head in the sand but I would absolutely encourage anyone who is noticing any changes in their breast to go straight to your GP as we know the sooner it’s detected the more treatable it is."
She also advises anyone who does find themselves in a similar situation to not be afraid of accepting help from those around you.
"Say yes to every single offer of help, people want to help, people want to feel like they’re doing something. Let them in, whether it’s cooking a meal, doing your laundry, taking the kids out or letting you rest."
Read Emma’s full story in her new book, All That Followed, which is available to buy now from MirrorBooks.co.uk
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