Helping you through breast cancer treatment
Women don’t stop being women when they are diagnosed with cancer by Jennifer Young, Founder of Beauty Despite Cancer Coming from a scientific background, Jennifer Young is an experienced microbiologist and associate member of the Royal Society of Medicine, who decided to combine her knowledge …
This is another brilliant blog in the series from Confidence Coach, Allie Morgan (links to previous blogs are at the foot of this post). Allie is a Confidence Coach, working with cancer survivors and those with chronic illnesses. After overcoming bone cancer at the age …
This week I’m introducing you to the amazing Leanne Pero, founder of Black Women Rising. I met Leanne in 2019 and we’ve since become friends. It’s safe to say that she’s one of the nicest people you’ll come across in this community.
Leanne was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016 and has subsequently spent a large proportion of her time involved in breast cancer awareness campaigns and helping others who are going through breast cancer. You’ll probably have come across Leanne via one of her brilliant cancer projects – whether Black Women Rising (including the brilliant magazine), the Positive Day Planner, – or one of her interviews. Leanne was deservedly nominated and subsequently in the final of the Lorraine Woman of the Year for 2019 and she has won a number of awards for both her breast cancer work and other community/dance work. I want you to get to know the person behind these accolades and understand what is was that led her to focus a lot of her time in helping others facing breast cancer…
After finding a lump in my right breast, I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast Cancer, aged 30 in October 2016, just 6 months after my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time. I underwent 8 gruelling rounds of chemotherapy, a bilateral mastectomy and immediate reconstructive surgery.
I had convinced myself it was nothing so when I heard the words “I am not going to beat around the bush, we’ve found cancer” I went into a state of panic and anxiety. I couldn’t shake the sense of shame around my diagnosis so only very close family and friends knew but no matter how many wonderful people you have around you, cancer is a lonely journey.
At the time of my diagnosis I was fit and healthy, I was a successful business owner and I had a dream job at the world-renowned Pineapple dance studios. I was also at university finally getting my business management degree. Due to the intense nature of my treatment and subsequent surgery I was not able to carry on working. I had a few days to hand over the business, defer uni and cancel all commitments.
A week after my diagnosis, during an appointment with my oncologist, I was told that many people within the BAME community refuse the drugs. She told me “I know you will beat this, and I am going to need you to go out and educate everyone that chemo is not that bad so that they stop refusing the drugs”. Whilst I appreciated her vote of confidence, at the time I forgot her plea. Little did I know that the future would see me setting up a charity to help others in the same situation as me.
Lots of people find that cancer impacts their mental health. You’ve been vocal about the impact of cancer on your mental health – can you tell us a little bit about how it affected you and what you did to deal with this?
I definitely struggled with my mental health both during treatment and after it. Everything in your life changes in an instant. Your body changes. You lose so much both physically and mentally.
I began to see a therapist which has helped me immensely. In addition to that I starting a gratitude journal. I found this incredibly useful. Even on the days I had chemo, I made sure to write down things I was grateful for. It was such an important tool for me that last year I launched a new company called The Positive Day Planner and created 21-day gratitude planners. You can see more about them here.
Black Women Rising started as monthly peer to peer support groups – these are the heart of the project. From there we ran pamper events for women of colour. The next big step was the UK first’s all-Black cancer portrait exhibition which launched at The Oxo Tower and then toured London. In 2020 we launched our weekly podcast as well as publishing our inaugural magazine.
In my quest to find the right services to help me, I realised that the NHS lacked cancer support packages for Black and BAME cancer patients. From there I saw that stories from my community were being excluded from the UK’s mainstream media outlets, magazines and perhaps most importantly – from reputable annual cancer campaigns by brands and charities failing miserably at diversifying their campaigns. All this did was further fuel the false narrative that cancer is “not a black disease”.
I began meeting women and men who were either mis-diagnosed, not offered mental health support and generally left feeling excluded from communication with their consultants which echoed the man other health inequalities in the BAME community.
I am always ready to get involved with other charity campaigns as well as those of major brands. Some of these include Pretty Little Thing, Stella McCartney, Estee Lauder, GHD, Zalando, Breast Cancer Now, CoppaFeel!, Future Dreams.
My biggest message is to take every day as it comes.
And the other is to seek external support. Find organisations like ours where you can meet likeminded women to help you through everything.
We have big and exciting plans for 2021 – some of which we cannot share with you quite yet (sorry!) and some of these are going to have to be adapted to make them Covid friendly. We have plans to increase our support groups, launch series 2 of our podcasts and work has already begun on our 2021/2022 magazine.
To find out more about Leanne and Black Women Rising, you can follow them on:
Instagram: Leanne Pero and Black Women Rising
Twitter: Leanne Pero
Facebook: Leanne Pero
And you can order a free copy of the magazine here.
February 2021
Offering hope through hair loss By Jasmin Julia Gupta – The UK’s leading oncology hair loss expert, NHS clinical advisor and founder of the charity Cancer Hair Care At Cancer Hair Care, we offer so much more than just a wig. As the UK’s leading …
In this guest blog, Natasha describes how she felt when she experienced hair loss through chemotherapy. It’s just hair. It’ll grow back. It’s no big deal. I’d rather be bald than have cancer’ These are some of the things people said and, indeed, I told …
This is a guest blog from Cathy Leman who is a registered dietitian, personal trainer, nutrition therapist, speaker, writer and survivor of ER/PR+ breast cancer.
A common belief in the breast cancer community, especially for women diagnosed with hormonally-driven cancer, is that certain foods will make their cancer return.
Well-intentioned friends and family perpetuate that belief with (un)helpful comments like, “Why would you eat THAT? You had breast cancer!”
Cue the guilt.
The fact is, the synergy of any single food is the “coordination” of all the biological compounds that particular food contains. That’s why it’s difficult to tease out the impact on cancer risk of a single food.
That said, it’s true we “consist of what we consume”; and since what we consume likely influences our health, it’s smart to focus on quality, variety and balance for a healthy eating pattern.
But if you have/had breast cancer, you’re likely familiar with this rule: you must eat only certain foods and avoid others. And so, that fact doesn’t apply.
On the contrary it does, very much.
Your dietary pattern over time, in other words, ALL THE FOODS YOU PUT INTO YOUR BODY, has the most significant impact on your breast and overall health.
Upon hearing that information, what do you do?
Aim to eat 100% perfectly, 100% of the time. Because obviously, a perfect dietary pattern equals perfect health.
And then, you fail miserably and abandon it all.
Cue the guilt.
Why do you insist that “eating healthy” means bad tasting, boring, breast cancer penance food that doesn’t make you happy and leaves you dreaming of pasta and pastries?
Because you’ve been brain-washed to believe there’s no other way.
I’m here to un-wash your brain. It’s possible to shift your eating pattern to be (mostly) nutritious, healthy AND delicious, feel good about the impact your choices have on your health, AND keep the treats.
The greatest gift you can give yourself is to enjoy your food, and eat without stress and guilt.
Here are 4 tips to help you get started:
I’ve shared this concept with clients for years, long before it became a common phrase.
Of course it’s important to improve your diet; quality nutrition is crucial to rebuilding your health after treatment. But you can’t do it in a single day.
Changing deeply ingrained habits requires small, consistent steps forward, the only way to make lasting change.
Remember that the smallest amount of progress is still progress. And by the way, forget about a “perfect” diet or way of eating. That’s a myth perpetuated by the diet industry.
Life without treats would be a very boring life, indeed.
Maybe you’re a chocolate chip cookie lover. Can you imagine never eating another chocolate chip cookie? Of course not! But that’s exactly what you think you’ll do once you “perfect” your diet.
You’ll eat only apples, and skip the cookies.
Who says you can’t have both? Literally. When you eat a cookie (or other treat), uplevel your choice by pairing it with an apple, grapes or an orange. And if you bake those cookies, choose whole wheat pastry flour, healthy fats/oils and decrease the sugar.
Murder, cheating and lying are bad; cake is not. Neither are you for eating it.
When you label food good or bad, you subconsciously label yourself. When you feel bad about what you eat, guilt and stress take over and make it impossible to enjoy your food.
Habits can be good or bad. Your mindset can be good or bad. Behaviors can be good or bad.
Are your habits, mindset and behaviors health-supportive or health-destructive?
When you think about it that way, you leave the food (and your character!) out of the equation. You’re empowered to make choices based on whether or not they support your health goals, rather than beating yourself up for being “bad”.
Discover what makes food scary for you. On a sheet of paper, list every fear you have about every food. Maybe it’s a food “act” that scares you, such as eating at a restaurant.
When you name the fear, you can begin to tame the fear.
Consider this: food takes away our hunger, gives our body nourishment and energy, helps us heal. Food is culture, celebration, tradition and ritual.
Embrace all the positive things food does for you, and use that discovery to challenge yourself to leave your food fears behind.
Do you have breast cancer food rules? Rules you wouldn’t dare break?
Food rules take the pleasure and joy out of eating by dictating a strict approach to food with no room for spontaneity.
Instead, try creating a nutrition philosophy that honors your body, your health and your love of food.
For example, maybe your nutrition philosophy is that you choose to eat mainly whole foods, yet you’re flexible when travelling.
A fluid nutrition philosophy versus iron-clad food rules is like permission to be human, and you deserve that.
Cathy Leman helps survivors of ER/PR+ breast cancer conquer their phytoestrogen food fear, eat without stress and guilt, and confidently rebuild their health after treatment. Cathy is a registered dietitian, personal trainer, nutrition therapist, speaker, writer and survivor of ER/PR+ breast cancer. Cathy is also the founder of HIGHER GROUND HEALTH REBUILD REVOLUTION, an online membership for survivors of ER/PR+ breast cancer, and REBUILD, her 8-week private coaching program. Learn more about her programs here: www.cathyleman.com and follow her on Instagram @hormone.breastcancer.dietitian and Facebook
The information and content provided in all guest blogs is intended for information and educational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice. Please seek professional advice or speak to your medical team if you have any questions about the issues raised in this guest blog.