Seven inspiring women starring in Marks & Spencer’s breast cancer awareness campaign open up about how the disease has affected them

HIGH street giant Marks & Spencer has launched an inspiring new campaign in aid of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Seven incredible women who have all been affected by the killer disease are fronting the crusade on behalf of Breast Cancer Now.

This month, M&S is donating 20 per cent of each pink bra sold to the charity, whose long-term goal is to prevent 9,000 cases of breast cancer a year by 2025.

Here, the seven women tell GABRIELE DIRVANAUSKAS their stories.

It is the best possible reason to refresh your underwear drawer, so make sure YOU get into the pink.

I told my son I had a bug in my boob

Emi Lou Howe

HOLISTIC therapist Emi Lou Howe was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012. She lives with her fiancé, her seven-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son in Chester. She says:

"I wasn’t very happy before my diagnosis. We live in an amazing country with amazing services and I have great friends, but I couldn’t enjoy any of it.

"I now keep a gratitude diary and write in it every day. It’s usually small things, like my kids telling me they love me.

"Many people think breast cancer is a disease for older people, but everyone should check their breasts – in the shower, in the bath, in bed. I found a lump the size of a Malteser in July 2012. There were five tumours but I could only feel one of them.

"I told my son, who was just four at the time, there was a bug in Mummy’s boob and we had to get it out – and that was fine with him.

"I’m getting married next June. My fiancé proposed on December 23.

"I’d told him I wouldn’t marry him until I had a new kitchen – and the day we put the last bit of paint on the new one, he asked me to marry him.
"I had the double mastectomy just two months before the photoshoot and my body was a trainwreck.
"It was a huge accomplishment to see how much I’d healed."

I didn't have a lump or the usual signs

Lesley Stephen

LESLEY STEPHEN, was diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer in 2014. It had already spread to her lungs, liver and bones.

She lives in Edinburgh with husband Doug Brown, 46, a HR director, and sons Finn, 17, Alex, 15, Archie, 13, and daughter Evie, nine. Lesley says:

"I didn’t have a lump or any of the usual symptoms but I had been very tired and had a persistent cough.

"I went to the GP thinking I had a chest infection. He promptly sent me for a chest X-ray, then a CT scan that showed cancer had spread to my liver and bones. I felt utter shock.

"In April 2015 I was told the cancer had moved into my brain too. I had gone through two types of chemotherapy, one very expensive that we self-funded, and neither had worked. We went to New York thinking it would be my last holiday.

"I was then offered the last place on a medical trial in Glasgow.

"I jumped at the chance. I had a terrible cough because there was so much cancer in my lungs but within a few weeks that was gone and I’ve remained incredibly well ever since.

"I still get scanned every few months and last Friday I had good results.

"There are only 44 of us on the trial worldwide and I really wouldn’t be here if I didn’t get that last place. I’m hugely thankful.";

My heart hurts when I read my journal

Heather Shekede

HEATHER SHEKEDE was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer ten years ago. She lives in Croydon, South London, with her 14-year-old son and says:

"Getting cancer was a complete shock. I had breast-fed my son until he was three and it was him who found the lump.

"He kept putting his head on my breast, which was unusual, and when I took his hand away I felt something that hadn’t been there before.

"The diagnosis floored me. I had a mastectomy and was going to have a reconstruction but I was fed up of being in hospital and managing fine with my prosthesis.

"My son was four so never really felt the effects of my illness. The only thing he said to me after I had chemotherapy was: “Make sure you put your hair on when you pick me up.”

"Losing my hair didn’t bother me too much but losing my eyelashes was really upsetting. But when you’re a parent you don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself. Children expect you to be “Mummy” and get on with it.

"I kept a journal and when I read it now, my heart hurts for that person. It’s really hard to link it back to being me.
"Doing this campaign makes me realise how far I’ve come and just how important charities like Breast Cancer Now are.
"They give people like me a chance at life."

My mum didn't want to tell us

Laura Otrofanowei

TEACHER Laura Otrofanowei lives in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, with husband James, 32, a banking regulator, and their sons Ethan, nine, Cameron, seven, and Reuben, two.

She wants to support mum Debbie East, 54, diagnosed in August 2016. Laura says:

"My mum didn’t want to tell anyone or talk about her diagnosis.

"She burst into tears about it, but she wasn’t upset for herself. She said: 'I just feel so terrible for you guys'

"In April this year we did the Devon Coastal Walk to raise money for Breast Cancer Now. She met other women affected by breast cancer.

"It was the first time I heard her talk about it.

"I was shocked by some of the things she said.

"Mum is currently on hormone therapy and in December she has her first post-treatment scan. We hope all the cancer has gone.

"I know she feels immense pride at me taking part in this campaign.

"It is something positive that’s come out of something so difficult."

I shaved my head to take back control

Heather Peedell

HELEN PEEDELL and husband Simon, 40, run a flooring and furniture business. They live near Abingdon, Oxon, with sons Luke, 24, and Alfie, 13. Helen says:

"I was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer in September last year.

"Family and friends were devastated but everyone said: 'We’ll get through this together.' It was hugely comforting.

"I had chemotherapy and started losing my hair within three days. I wanted to feel in control so I bought some clippers and shaved my head.

"On a day out I wore a wig but it was itchy and uncomfortable.

"I didn’t want to take it off and make Simon or Alfie feel uncomfortable.

"But Alfie said: 'I don’t care who looks. You’re beautiful and who cares what other people think?'"

"So I went to the toilets and took it off. He held on to my hand and I never looked back.

"I had a double mastectomy but I’m more than happy as I am now. My husband still tells me every day that he loves me and I’m beautiful.

"I used to be a 34F. I feel liberated now! I can go running and don’t have to wear a sports bra.

"Everyone tells me how brave I am, but I just see myself as lucky. I spotted the lump and have been given the chance to show women you can still look and feel beautiful."

The kids thought I was going to die

Hayley Rock

FASHION buyer Hayley Rock lives with electrical engineer husband Fran, 44, and daughters Ava, 11, and Emmy, nine, in Runcorn, Cheshire. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in February. She says:

"I will always remember Valentine’s Day for my breast cancer diagnosis.

"I was completely devastated. I was 39, active and led a healthy lifestyle.

"I didn’t ever think that I would have breast cancer.

"I had surgery on March 1 to remove the tumour, without a mastectomy. My active treatment has finished but I’m medication.

"My husband has been my absolute rock. Telling my children was horrendous. They heard cancer and they just thought “death” – that Mummy was going to die.

"So for me it was about trying to stay positive and keeping life normal.

"I wore a cold cap for chemotherapy to stop the drugs getting into my scalp. My hair has thinned but I’m lucky that I kept it.

"It was really important to me that my daughters saw me as my regular self.

"We’re a really strong, close family and that got me through the dark times.

"Now we’re all going on holiday as a celebration of us getting through it.
"If you start checking your breasts early it will become routine and you will get to know every little change."

When I saw the doctor, I was so blase

Katie Hughes

KATIE HUGHES was diagnosed in 2015. She is a legal PA and lives with her partner, businessman Johnny Giles, 35, in Virginia Water, Surrey. She says:

"I initially went to the doctor for a lump on my right breast. They sent me off for an ultrasound, scanned it and said it was nothing to worry about.

";But they checked my other breast and found a 5mm tumour, which I never would have found because it was so small.

"I had it removed but my test results still weren’t coming back clear, so I had an MRI scan that showed another 8mm tumour. It was terrifying but what I’ve learned about a breast cancer diagnosis is that what you’re told in your initial stages is never how it ends up. I was diagnosed when I was 31 and I’d never really heard of anyone my age having breast cancer.

"Even when I went to the doctor with the lump, I was so blase about it. I never in a million years thought I would have breast cancer,

"I’ve now had two lumpectomies, radiotherapy and reconstructive surgery. But I just had an MRI, ultrasound and a mammogram come back clear this week. I was over the moon.

"It’s so stressful when you have scans and check-ups because that panic completely consumes you.
"I was so lucky my cancer was found early on.7 That’s the crucial thing."