1 00:00:00,533 --> 00:00:05,171 This podcast contains the personal stories, opinions and experiences of its speakers 2 00:00:05,171 --> 00:00:09,843 rather than those of Breast Cancer Now. 3 00:00:09,909 --> 00:00:12,278 Welcome to the Breast Cancer Now podcast. 4 00:00:12,278 --> 00:00:16,116 I'm Laura Price and I'm the new presenter of this podcast which aims to support 5 00:00:16,149 --> 00:00:20,086 anyone affected by breast cancer, whether it's you or a loved one. 6 00:00:20,186 --> 00:00:23,623 In this new season, we'll bring you a brilliant selection of guests, 7 00:00:23,690 --> 00:00:29,429 some of whom have had breast cancer and others who, like me are living with secondary breast cancer. 8 00:00:29,496 --> 00:00:35,001 We'll also be talking to healthcare professionals and experts about new developments in cancer drugs and treatments, 9 00:00:35,101 --> 00:00:38,905 and important topics such as working and exercising with cancer. 10 00:00:38,972 --> 00:00:42,742 We hope this podcast will help you feel less alone as you deal with breast cancer. 11 00:00:42,976 --> 00:00:48,448 And also explain and simplify what can feel like a very confusing, very jargon heavy place. 12 00:00:48,515 --> 00:00:53,486 We're here as you go through what is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges of your life. 13 00:00:53,553 --> 00:00:56,990 We'll be publishing a new episode every other week for the next few months. 14 00:00:57,023 --> 00:01:01,161 And if you subscribe to The Breast Cancer Now podcasts on Spotify, Apple podcasts, 15 00:01:01,161 --> 00:01:05,965 or wherever you get your podcasts, you'll be alerted as soon as a new episode is available. 16 00:01:06,032 --> 00:01:11,104 If you're listening from breast cancer nails website, then be sure to check it regularly or follow us on social media. 17 00:01:11,371 --> 00:01:14,741 We've put all the relevant links in the show notes. 18 00:01:14,841 --> 00:01:15,341 Before we 19 00:01:15,341 --> 00:01:19,512 bring you our first guest episode, I wanted to introduce myself Laura Price. 20 00:01:19,612 --> 00:01:23,349 I'm a food writer and author, a podcaster a stepmum, a wife, 21 00:01:23,349 --> 00:01:28,088 a daughter, a sister and a friend, and I live with secondary breast cancer. 22 00:01:28,154 --> 00:01:31,724 If you've been subscribed to this podcast for a while, then you might recognise my name 23 00:01:31,724 --> 00:01:38,098 because I was actually the last person to be interviewed for this podcast in 2022 before it went on a break. 24 00:01:38,164 --> 00:01:41,968 Now if you've listened to that episode, you'll have heard me talking about the hurdles 25 00:01:41,968 --> 00:01:47,373 I faced in the 10 years since I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012. 26 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,343 Certainly, the treatment doesn't stop 27 00:01:50,343 --> 00:01:53,113 after chemotherapy and radiotherapy stops. 28 00:01:53,113 --> 00:01:54,214 I was on Tamoxifen. 29 00:01:54,214 --> 00:02:02,555 Well, I've been on Tamoxifen for nearly 10 years, and I've had hot flushes and aches and pains 30 00:02:02,555 --> 00:02:07,460 and kind of the usual side effects from that. 31 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:12,332 But I think for me, probably the bigger thing has been psychological. 32 00:02:12,398 --> 00:02:13,366 And obviously, 33 00:02:13,366 --> 00:02:17,203 like I was very naive at the time when I was diagnosed, I didn't know that much about it. 34 00:02:17,203 --> 00:02:21,975 But since then, I've met a lot of people who, you know, have sadly had secondary breast cancer. 35 00:02:21,975 --> 00:02:28,681 And I've learned so much about you know, the really horrible stuff that cancer throws at us. 36 00:02:28,748 --> 00:02:33,620 Unfortunately, the day after I recorded the Breast Cancer Now podcast in 2022, 37 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:38,191 I found out my cancer had come back and spread to my bones, making it secondary, 38 00:02:38,258 --> 00:02:41,628 or metastatic, or stage four breast cancer. 39 00:02:41,728 --> 00:02:43,763 That day, my life changed. 40 00:02:43,763 --> 00:02:47,600 And in the following months, I took massive comfort in this podcast, 41 00:02:47,700 --> 00:02:52,705 listening to people who had survived for years with secondary breast cancer and hearing advice on everything 42 00:02:52,705 --> 00:02:55,742 from explaining cancer treatment to kids to dealing 43 00:02:55,742 --> 00:02:58,745 with menopausal symptoms and a whole lot more. 44 00:02:58,978 --> 00:03:02,849 A year and a half after my secondary diagnosis, I'm doing really well. 45 00:03:02,916 --> 00:03:07,020 And I've been working with Breast Cancer Now to put together a new season of this podcast 46 00:03:07,020 --> 00:03:11,758 that will allow patients like me, and partners and friends and family of patients like me 47 00:03:11,824 --> 00:03:16,129 to find the answers to some of the questions and concerns they have around breast cancer. 48 00:03:16,229 --> 00:03:19,032 We won't be able to answer all the questions, of course. 49 00:03:19,032 --> 00:03:24,370 But we hope that by talking to a diverse selection of people from the breast cancer community and beyond, 50 00:03:24,437 --> 00:03:26,973 that we'll be able to provide you with a resource 51 00:03:26,973 --> 00:03:30,944 and a hand to hold if you like throughout whatever you're going through. 52 00:03:31,044 --> 00:03:35,081 And also just to help you to know that you're not alone. 53 00:03:35,148 --> 00:03:37,450 So my story, 54 00:03:37,450 --> 00:03:42,388 I was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 29 years old in 2012. 55 00:03:42,455 --> 00:03:45,725 I've been living and working in South America as a journalist, 56 00:03:45,792 --> 00:03:50,663 and I found a lump in my left breast while on a surfing holiday in Brazil that February. 57 00:03:50,730 --> 00:03:56,069 I knew that my maternal grandmother had had breast cancer in her 30s and that this could be serious. 58 00:03:56,135 --> 00:04:01,808 So I went immediately to the hospital in Argentina where I was living to get it checked out. 59 00:04:01,874 --> 00:04:04,711 I had a mammogram and an ultrasound and was told that 60 00:04:04,711 --> 00:04:07,680 because of my age and the characteristics of the lump, 61 00:04:07,847 --> 00:04:12,752 it was likely to be a fibro adenoma, or a non-cancerous lump. 62 00:04:12,819 --> 00:04:16,589 The doctor said he was 99% certain that it wasn't cancer, 63 00:04:16,656 --> 00:04:21,561 but that I could get it checked out again in a few months’ time if it was still there. 64 00:04:21,661 --> 00:04:25,698 A month or so later, I moved from Argentina to Ireland 65 00:04:25,798 --> 00:04:29,535 and was encouraged by my family to get the lump checked out again. 66 00:04:29,636 --> 00:04:32,272 I went to my GP in Dublin who wasn't concerned 67 00:04:32,272 --> 00:04:35,275 about the lump but referred me to the hospital just to be sure. 68 00:04:35,408 --> 00:04:38,945 And I was then referred again for more non urgent scans 69 00:04:38,945 --> 00:04:43,016 and consultations in June 2012. 70 00:04:43,049 --> 00:04:45,685 I heard those words for the first time. 71 00:04:45,685 --> 00:04:48,688 It's breast cancer. 72 00:04:48,721 --> 00:04:51,157 It had been four months since I've found the lump 73 00:04:51,157 --> 00:04:55,161 but amazingly the cancer hadn't spread and I was able to have surgery, 74 00:04:55,261 --> 00:04:58,931 a wide local excision which is similar to a lumpectomy 75 00:04:58,998 --> 00:05:03,569 followed by six months of chemotherapy and two months of radiotherapy. 76 00:05:03,636 --> 00:05:07,040 My cancer was E are positive or oestrogen 77 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:12,045 receptor positive, which means that the thing that makes my cancer grow is oestrogen. 78 00:05:12,145 --> 00:05:15,381 So to suppress the oestrogen in my body, I was given a drug 79 00:05:15,381 --> 00:05:20,453 that many of you will have heard of, or may even be taking called tamoxifen. 80 00:05:20,553 --> 00:05:24,924 I took that drug for the next 10 years with a couple of breaks. 81 00:05:24,991 --> 00:05:25,425 I was 82 00:05:25,425 --> 00:05:30,730 considered to be cured and cancer free, which was an incredible position to be in. 83 00:05:30,830 --> 00:05:36,235 I think many people when we go through a life changing illness or event, our outlook changes. 84 00:05:36,302 --> 00:05:38,671 And that was definitely the case for me. 85 00:05:38,671 --> 00:05:45,011 I'd been working as a financial journalist, but after my diagnosis, I started writing a blog about my cancer experience. 86 00:05:45,078 --> 00:05:48,081 And I found it really resonated with people. 87 00:05:48,214 --> 00:05:50,316 I loved my job as a financial journalist. 88 00:05:50,316 --> 00:05:55,722 But I've been wanting to work in a different area of journalism for a really long time, and also to write a book. 89 00:05:55,822 --> 00:06:00,993 And I realised I might not have the privilege of all the time in the world to do that. 90 00:06:01,060 --> 00:06:03,396 So for me, cancer acted as a catalyst 91 00:06:03,396 --> 00:06:08,801 to make some changes in my life and to follow my career dreams and life goals there 92 00:06:08,801 --> 00:06:13,373 and then rather than waiting for some distant day that might never come. 93 00:06:13,473 --> 00:06:18,311 So I quit my job, went back to uni and did a master's in magazine journalism. 94 00:06:18,378 --> 00:06:20,913 I then got a dream role as a food writer. 95 00:06:20,913 --> 00:06:26,953 And a few years later, I started writing my first novel, that book called Single Bald 96 00:06:26,953 --> 00:06:30,923 Female, was published in April 2022. 97 00:06:30,990 --> 00:06:33,393 It's about a woman called Jess who is working 98 00:06:33,393 --> 00:06:36,629 as a magazine journalist when she's diagnosed with breast cancer. 99 00:06:36,696 --> 00:06:40,366 At the same time as going through a breakup, she then plunges herself 100 00:06:40,366 --> 00:06:44,237 into the world of online dating with a bald head whilst going through chemo. 101 00:06:44,337 --> 00:06:48,007 Obviously, the book was inspired by my own experiences with cancer, 102 00:06:48,007 --> 00:06:53,179 but it's very much a fiction and tells the story of Jess and the friendships she makes through cancer, 103 00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:58,518 the way her family and friends deal with her cancer diagnosis and the feeling of being left behind 104 00:06:58,551 --> 00:07:03,456 while all her friends kind of move on and settle down in their 20s and 30s. 105 00:07:03,523 --> 00:07:06,993 So the book is a novel, but the paperback version actually has 106 00:07:06,993 --> 00:07:12,131 a new chapter with an essay about my own secondary diagnosis. 107 00:07:12,198 --> 00:07:13,132 In the 10 108 00:07:13,132 --> 00:07:17,336 years after my primary cancer diagnosis, I really did live life to the full. 109 00:07:17,403 --> 00:07:22,842 With my job as a food writer, I travelled all over the world and I visited so many of the places 110 00:07:22,842 --> 00:07:27,847 that I'd wanted to go to when I was lying in bed feeling completely rotten with chemo, 111 00:07:27,914 --> 00:07:30,283 I ended relationships where I didn't feel happy, 112 00:07:30,283 --> 00:07:33,853 because I knew life was too short to not be happy. 113 00:07:33,953 --> 00:07:38,357 I packed a huge amount of experiences into those years, but I was always conscious 114 00:07:38,357 --> 00:07:42,295 that my cancer could come back and that I needed to take care of myself. 115 00:07:42,361 --> 00:07:48,234 Then, in July 2022, almost 10 years to the day since my primary diagnosis, 116 00:07:48,234 --> 00:07:52,238 I was told the cancer had spread to my bones and was now secondary, 117 00:07:52,305 --> 00:07:56,909 otherwise known as stage four, or metastatic or incurable. 118 00:07:56,976 --> 00:07:59,812 I was 39 years old. 119 00:07:59,912 --> 00:08:00,813 Lots of people have 120 00:08:00,813 --> 00:08:04,617 asked me what the symptoms were for my secondary breast cancer diagnosis. 121 00:08:04,617 --> 00:08:09,355 And I'm aware once you've had cancer, once you're constantly afraid that it's going to come back, 122 00:08:09,455 --> 00:08:14,460 which in many cases it won't, but unfortunately, sometimes it does. 123 00:08:14,527 --> 00:08:19,365 I had been experiencing symptoms for about nine months before I got my diagnosis. 124 00:08:19,465 --> 00:08:24,370 I'd had my annual MRI scan of the breasts, and there been nothing of concern there. 125 00:08:24,437 --> 00:08:27,173 But I started to feel a tender spot on my chest 126 00:08:27,173 --> 00:08:30,676 above the breastbone, which felt a bit like a bruise. 127 00:08:30,776 --> 00:08:34,981 At the same time, I had some breast pain, which turned out to be unrelated. 128 00:08:35,047 --> 00:08:41,287 But when I went to the hospital, I was given a breast ultrasound and was told everything was fine. 129 00:08:41,354 --> 00:08:42,188 Over the next few 130 00:08:42,188 --> 00:08:45,358 months, that spot on my breastbone got more and more painful, 131 00:08:45,358 --> 00:08:50,596 and it would hurt to give someone a hug or to wear a necklace. 132 00:08:50,696 --> 00:08:52,498 I swim front crawl, 133 00:08:52,498 --> 00:08:56,969 and after a while it felt like my bones were kind of crunching together. 134 00:08:57,036 --> 00:08:59,739 Then I couldn't push myself up out of the pool 135 00:08:59,739 --> 00:09:03,576 and it would really hurt when I turned over in bed as well. 136 00:09:03,643 --> 00:09:07,747 I was fairly sure at certain points that I had secondary breast cancer. 137 00:09:07,813 --> 00:09:11,684 But the symptoms were confused with a condition called costochondritis 138 00:09:11,684 --> 00:09:16,455 which is an inflammation of the cartilage that joins the ribs to the sternum. 139 00:09:16,556 --> 00:09:19,258 So I went between worrying it was secondary breast cancer 140 00:09:19,258 --> 00:09:22,261 and then believing it was nothing and would go away. 141 00:09:22,428 --> 00:09:26,432 But I kept falling out with my hospital and eventually I was given a chest MRI 142 00:09:26,432 --> 00:09:31,604 and then a PET CT scan which revealed a large tumour inside my sternum bone. 143 00:09:31,704 --> 00:09:34,140 When breast cancer spreads beyond the breast, it's called 144 00:09:34,140 --> 00:09:37,143 secondary or stage four breast cancer. 145 00:09:37,310 --> 00:09:40,513 It is treatable with drugs but it's incurable. 146 00:09:40,513 --> 00:09:47,653 So in my case, I will always have cancer and I'll eventually become resistant to the drugs although there are lots of options. 147 00:09:47,753 --> 00:09:49,956 secondary breast cancer in the bone is different 148 00:09:49,956 --> 00:09:55,127 from say bone cancer because it's actually the breast cancer that has moved to your bone. 149 00:09:55,227 --> 00:10:01,000 So it's treated with breast cancer drugs rather than bone cancer drugs if that makes sense. 150 00:10:01,100 --> 00:10:03,936 When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, 151 00:10:03,936 --> 00:10:10,343 I was tested for the bracket gene mutation, which many people will be familiar with, partly because of the actress 152 00:10:10,343 --> 00:10:15,748 Angelina Jolie who had a preventative double mastectomy to reduce her breast cancer risk. 153 00:10:15,815 --> 00:10:19,151 Back in 2012, I tested negative for bracket, 154 00:10:19,151 --> 00:10:23,556 but I was told there were other gene mutations that couldn't be tested for yet. 155 00:10:23,623 --> 00:10:28,761 Then when I got my secondary diagnosis, 10 years later, I asked for my DNA to be retested. 156 00:10:28,761 --> 00:10:35,267 And I found out I have a gene mutation called PALB2, which is similar to the bracket gene. 157 00:10:35,368 --> 00:10:35,901 To briefly 158 00:10:35,901 --> 00:10:39,538 explain, I'm not a doctor or a scientist, 159 00:10:39,605 --> 00:10:44,777 we are all born with certain genes, including genes that protect us against breast cancer. 160 00:10:44,877 --> 00:10:48,314 But in my body, one of those genes is broken. 161 00:10:48,414 --> 00:10:50,883 It means I was born with something like a 50% 162 00:10:50,883 --> 00:10:53,886 chance of getting breast cancer in my lifetime. 163 00:10:53,953 --> 00:10:56,222 It hasn't made a difference to what treatment I'm on. 164 00:10:56,222 --> 00:10:58,958 But it's made a huge difference to me mentally, in 165 00:10:58,958 --> 00:11:02,194 that it's helped me to understand why I got cancer, 166 00:11:02,261 --> 00:11:06,832 that it was never my fault that there's very little I could have done to prevent it. 167 00:11:06,932 --> 00:11:11,203 Now in terms of my treatment, because my cancer is oestrogen receptor positive, 168 00:11:11,437 --> 00:11:15,574 my main treatment has involved cutting down the oestrogen in my body. 169 00:11:15,641 --> 00:11:20,179 I have a monthly injection called Zoladex and a daily tablet called letrozole. 170 00:11:20,279 --> 00:11:26,285 On top of the hormone treatment, I also have a targeted therapy drug called Ribociclib. 171 00:11:26,352 --> 00:11:29,689 Fortunately, I've responded incredibly well to these drugs. 172 00:11:29,822 --> 00:11:32,758 And in 2023, I was able to have surgery 173 00:11:32,758 --> 00:11:36,929 to remove my entire sternum bone, along with the cancer. 174 00:11:36,996 --> 00:11:40,499 As far as we know, there's no active cancer in my body at the moment, 175 00:11:40,499 --> 00:11:45,371 but I have scans every three months to check on its progress. 176 00:11:45,438 --> 00:11:47,873 My secondary diagnosis was slow. 177 00:11:47,873 --> 00:11:51,777 And as someone particularly at risk of secondary breast cancer, 178 00:11:51,844 --> 00:11:56,148 I didn't feel I was given the right tools to look out for the signs and symptoms. 179 00:11:56,248 --> 00:11:58,284 So I'm actively involved with breast cancer. 180 00:11:58,284 --> 00:12:04,023 Now it's brilliant campaign to educate patients and healthcare professionals about those signs and symptoms 181 00:12:04,256 --> 00:12:09,762 and to make sure that secondary breast cancer patients are properly recorded and cared for. 182 00:12:09,862 --> 00:12:12,098 When I was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer, 183 00:12:12,098 --> 00:12:16,102 I felt the most profound sense of grief. 184 00:12:16,202 --> 00:12:17,803 I was in a new relationship 185 00:12:17,803 --> 00:12:23,309 and had just had my first novel published and I was at the start of an exciting writing career. 186 00:12:23,375 --> 00:12:28,481 But my diagnosis made me feel I was at the end of my life instead of the beginning. 187 00:12:28,581 --> 00:12:32,384 That in the last 18 months, I've been fortunate enough to be able to access 188 00:12:32,384 --> 00:12:37,056 incredible treatment and life changing surgery and I've got my life back on track. 189 00:12:37,123 --> 00:12:41,060 I've started a new job at a food magazine, I'm presenting this podcast 190 00:12:41,060 --> 00:12:45,131 for Breast Cancer Now, which is a charity I hugely admire and respect. 191 00:12:45,231 --> 00:12:47,666 And I'm also writing more books. 192 00:12:47,666 --> 00:12:50,236 I've started a new chapter in my career despite 193 00:12:50,236 --> 00:12:53,172 having incurable breast cancer. 194 00:12:53,172 --> 00:12:58,344 I am painfully aware that many people aren't as lucky as me and don't get this chance. 195 00:12:58,410 --> 00:13:01,080 But I am here and I can do this. 196 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:05,851 And so I really want to use this space on the Breast Cancer Now podcast, to share my story 197 00:13:05,851 --> 00:13:09,622 and to hopefully give hope where others gave hope to me. 198 00:13:09,722 --> 00:13:13,325 I want to help you and your loved ones understand more about breast cancer 199 00:13:13,325 --> 00:13:17,396 and how you can cope with your diagnosis both physically and mentally. 200 00:13:17,463 --> 00:13:21,233 How you can still exercise and work and have sex and relationships 201 00:13:21,233 --> 00:13:25,938 and really do as much as your health allows you to do so over the next few months. 202 00:13:25,938 --> 00:13:32,144 I'll be interviewing a range of different guests and opening up a number of topics from within the breast cancer community. 203 00:13:32,244 --> 00:13:34,680 If that sounds like something you'd like to listen to 204 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:39,685 then please do subscribe to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. 205 00:13:39,752 --> 00:13:40,953 You can also follow 206 00:13:40,953 --> 00:13:44,924 me personally on Instagram @LauraPriceWrites 207 00:13:45,024 --> 00:13:47,927 and you can find my novel Single Bald Female 208 00:13:47,927 --> 00:13:51,797 in bookshops, online or at the link in the show notes. 209 00:13:51,897 --> 00:13:55,768 Thank you for listening to the Breast Cancer Now podcast and see you next time.