Leanne
Pero is an award-winning Dance entrepreneur who founded her community dance
company, The Movement Factory at the tender age of 15 years old. Leanne shares her story about being diagnosed with
stage 3 breast cancer at the end of 2016.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush,
unfortunately we have found cancer.”
Those were the words my breast cancer
consultant used to break this horrific news to me on October 20th, 2016. She
was also the same breast cancer consultant who had told my mum the same thing
just six months earlier. In that split second, as I sat with my younger brother
and best friend, listening to the doctor’s declaration, I knew my life as I
knew it, this moment would never be the same again.
“Wait. Hold on – me? Are you being serious? I’ve
only just turned 31! I wasn’t expecting this – I didn’t see it coming. Mum has
had this twice – the second diagnosis was just a few months ago. My uncle’s
wife and my next-door neighbour have also just been diagnosed?!! And now me??
Am I going to die?? Is my life over ?” were the questions I asked myself.
I
remember asking “What about work?
what about university? Am I going to lose my hair?”
Then
there was the surgery talk and what the best course of treatment was for me –
full removal of my breast (a mastectomy)? Lump removal (a lumpectomy)? And they
told me the worst of it – the cancer wasn’t present in just one lump, there
were many particles surrounding the main one, so a full mastectomy of my right
breast was the best course of action. I remember in that appointment
saying, “Just take it off – I just want them
both off. I want the cancer gone.” But as I learnt, it wasn’t as
simple as that.
Next up on the consultant’s agenda was the
fact my mum had breast cancer twice. Her first diagnosis was at 35, a similar
age to me. I was told to consider genetic testing – that would provide me with
more options when it came to the surgery, as I needed to think about the
potential of it coming back in the future, like it had with my mum. Then the
issue of my fertility came up. I was advised to freeze my eggs if I wanted to
start a family. I remember thinking “why
didn’t I have children sooner? Why didn’t I settle down when I had the chance?”
As a result of my diagnosis, over the
18 months that followed I endured eight rounds of chemotherapy, 18 injections
of Herceptin, more than 100 hospital appointments and I had three operations to
remove both my breasts after being advised to have a bilateral mastectomy. I
gave up so much and had constant, anxiety-filled panic attacks. The breaking
point through all this came when I lost my eyelashes and eyebrows because
before I lost them, I admit they were some of the only things that were making
me feel womanly and this loss along with my head of hair made me struggle to
look at myself in the mirror. I used to wake up and before I faced anyone
including the postman, I would get a full face of makeup on, pop on a wig, draw
on my eyebrows and stick on a set of fake eyelashes, truth was underneath the
bravado, bravery and positivity I presented - I felt ugly, I felt inhumane and
I felt worthless.
I was given the all clear on June 29th,
2017!
In March 2018, I set up the Leanne Pero Foundation to house
various cancer initiatives aimed at mentally supporting the cancer community
during and after treatment. My first project, Black Women Rising, was born a
few weeks later – a free, safe, friendly open access meet-up group aimed at
getting more BME female cancer patients connecting and talking about our cancer
experiences, to aid our recovery process, spread some much-needed cancer
awareness amongst our communities and educate some of the UK’s leading cancer
care organisations including the NHS about our needs.
We must face up to the likelihood that cancer is something that
will affect us all either directly or indirectly at some point in our life
time. So, let’s start the necessary conversations about cancer awareness within
our households, because cancer doesn’t exclude regardless of race.
Have
you had experience with Breast Cancer? Please share your experiences below. You can find more information on Leanne on her website, twitter, Instagram and her work with Black Women Rising.
