Three years ago, my life turned upside down when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. At 46, I had a double mastectomy and took a course of fierce anti-cancer drugs. My husband, Duncan, then 48, and our kids Lauren, 15, and Will, 13, were devastated, but they stayed strong for me.
‘Give me a 44GG bust!’ I joked with the surgeon before reconstruction. Humour kept me sane but, underneath the bravado, I was terrified.
I didn’t need chemotherapy, and was able to return to work as an admin clerk for Hampshire police. But the ordeal had taken its toll on me and, in February 2011, I decided to put in for voluntary redundancy. ‘I need to look at my life,’ I told Duncan.
Creating magic
Then, one day in April…