After a tough time, a moment of empowerment helped me heal. By Karla Cornwall, 48
As I was standing in the kitchen one evening with my children and my husband, Clive, I felt an itch across my left breast.
But scratching it, I felt
a lump.
‘Can you feel that?’ I asked Clive.
When he nodded, I said I’d call the doctor first thing.
The next day, I rang my doctor straightaway.
‘Hold your arm above your head and feel around the whole breast. Can you feel anything else?’ she instructed over the phone.
Dread crept over me as
I told her, ‘I can feel more lumps.’
She referred me for tests and, after a mammogram and painful biopsies, the consultant confirmed my worst fears.
I had breast cancer.
While she explained that I’d need a mastectomy to remove three cancerous tumours before deciding if
I needed further treatment, all I could think about was my kids.
I needed to be around
for them.
Within weeks, I was
back in hospital for my mastectomy.
When I woke after the operation, I looked down at my chest and my eyes filled with tears.
I felt a mixture of relief that the tumours were gone, but also sadness that my breast was gone as well.
Thankfully, doctors declared me cancer-free.
Although I still needed radiotherapy, and it would be a year before I could have breast reconstruction, I told Clive, ‘I’m just grateful to be OK.’
But back home
in Basingstoke, Hampshire, I struggled with how my chest looked.
‘I don’t feel like me,’ I confided in my friends.
While they were incredibly supportive, it was hard for them to understand.
Then one day, on Instagram, I saw a photo of a group of women who’d climbed a mountain to raise funds for a breast cancer charity called CoppaFeel!
I want to do that, I thought.
So, I signed up for a trek in Pembrokeshire. I didn’t know any of the women I was walking with, but as we walked, we got chatting.
After talking about families, hobbies and jobs, we inevitably got around to our experiences of cancer.
‘I really struggled with my appearance,’ a woman called Helen said.
As I listened to everyone and shared my own story too, I felt understood for the first time since my diagnosis.
It was the best therapy.
While the walk was tough, we helped each other up steep inclines and giggled
as we got used to going for wees together in the wild!
'Can you feel that?'
And when we reached the finish line, Helen had an idea.
‘Let’s bare all!’ she said.
Together we took off
our tops and it felt amazing to embrace our bodies and everything they’d been through.
It was tough to do, but incredibly liberating.
After the trek, Helen and
I kept in touch and a few years later – after breast reconstruction surgery – we signed up for a CoppaFeel! walk across the Himalayas.
Arriving in India, we were put into teams headed up
by celebrities, including Giovanna Fletcher, Emma Willis, Sara Davies and my team lead, Angela Scanlon.
With around 15 miles to walk a day over five days, we helped each other climb and chatted about our experiences.
At the peak of the Himalayas, Helen and I recreated our topless photo from years before. This time, feeling the heat of the Indian sun on our bodies.
I’d come full circle, and with the help of all the women I’d met, I felt healed.
Since then, I’ve continued to go on walks with CoppaFeel! and have also written a book of poetry, some of which is inspired
by my cancer journey.
I hope my story will
help others who are going through the same experience to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
● Karla’s book, Cloudy Days and Rainbows, is available at cloudydaysandrainbows.bigcartel.com