Anita’s story begins in May 2019 when she first noticed a bruise-like blemish on her left breast. As a self-proclaimed clumsy person, she chalked it up to a simple injury that she maybe hadn’t noticed earlier. But after about a week of it getting darker instead of lighter, she knew it was necessary to get it checked out, so it was off to the gynaecologist.

The gynaecologist told Anita she didn’t feel any lumps but wanted to send her for a mammogram to ensure everything was in order. As she was only 36 years old, the clinic was hesitant to perform a mammogram. She was sent home on the Friday and was told to return on the Monday morning. On Monday morning, a mammogram was performed where they discovered Anita’s lymph nodes were enlarged so they did an ultrasound. This was concerning to Anita as she only expected the mammogram. Then came the initial verdict – they were 99% sure she had breast cancer from the mammogram and ultrasound alone but wanted to do a biopsy as soon as possible to confirm. And sure enough, a few days later the suspicion was confirmed: Anita had inflammatory breast cancer.

Although Anita has a strong familial history with cancer, it was still a huge shock. She has seen her aunt battle breast cancer and saw two grandparents taken by different forms of cancer. Unfortunately, her grandmother passed away only hours before her wedding, so she was already familiar with the toll that cancer can take on a family.

[.CO.UK-en United Kingdom (english)] Breast cancer fighter Anita looks positive while wearing a Wonder Woman shirt.

Treatment journey

Anita’s treatment journey began with a course of 16 chemotherapy sessions over six months. She would have good days and bad days, and on those bad days she would take two or three days off from work to recover and then go back. Most of her colleagues were incredibly supportive, but some made insensitive comments regarding losing weight and hair due to chemo.

Despite such negative experiences, Anita has a unique ritual that helps keep her positive. The first time she went to her chemotherapy session, she happened to be wearing a superhero shirt. Her brother called randomly while she was there, noticed the shirt she was wearing and said, “You’re a superhero, you’re going to fight this and you’re going to beat it.” From then on, Anita has committed to wearing superhero shirts to her treatment sessions almost every time. The theme took off so well that family and friends started buying her shirts, hoodies, jewellery, anything with a superhero theme. And in the meantime, she has a collection of about 60 shirts!

[.CO.UK-en United Kingdom (english)] Breast cancer fighter Anita shows off one of her many superhero shirts. Here you can see Wonder Woman.

When I went to get chemo, everyone started asking what shirt I had on that day. So, it became a joke that I was known as the superhero lady.

After her six months of chemotherapy, Anita underwent a double mastectomy followed by radiation. Within nearly a year span, she was given the all-clear. Shortly after that, she started experiencing some back pain, brushing it off as a pinched nerve or something similar, until finally she couldn’t get into bed.

Unfortunately, Anita was then diagnosed at stage 4, with the cancer having started up again in her back. In addition to the lesions found on her vertebrae, they also found some on her liver and lungs. Thus began her next journey through various treatments, beginning with radiation on her back then another six months of chemotherapy. After that she had a PET scan done, which picked up lesions on her brain and sternum.

Originally with this second diagnosis, she didn’t realise she had fractured two vertebrae. Because of these developments, her doctor wanted to put her in a wheelchair to help manage the discomfort and put less strain on the back. But this is not something Anita was ready to do. She would happily go to physical therapy to get support with movement and walking, but she thought if she made that step to using a wheelchair, that she would never get out of it. In the meantime, her fractures have healed, and she does what she can while her family supports her.

Focusing more on creating memories with her husband Philip and her family is much more important to Anita than receiving any gifts. It seems that her family agrees with this sentiment as they have rallied around her to support and spend time with one another. Anita’s mother often cooks food, which is then delivered to her husband via her father.

No one is guaranteed tomorrow. We need to take each day as a gift and focus on the positive and create memories.

I always focus on the positive and not the negative because it’s got me this far, and I still believe that there’s a lot of fight left in me, and I’m going to be fighting with everything that I’ve got.