I was born on 18 April 1983 in Namur. When I was 27, in January 2010, I was taking a shower and felt a lump above my right nipple. That’s where it all started.
At first they suggested inflammation, but after several days of anti-inflammatory treatment, the pain persisted. An ultrasound scan and a painful puncture without even a local anaesthetic revealed nothing. But I still didn’t feel reassured, the lump was badly placed and painful… so I decided to have it removed. The operation took place on 7 May and 4 days later, the real diagnosis came out…
I was told I had very aggressive triple-negative breast cancer. Everything collapsed in a matter of seconds, hell on earth but fortunately not only that…
My life changed in an instant! It took 6 months before the doctors said the word “cancer”. I seemed too young for such a diagnosis and was not yet aware of the family genetic mutation, BRCA1…
If I hadn’t followed my intuition and asked to have that tumour removed, I probably wouldn’t be here today.
On 08 November 2010, I had a mastectomy on my right breast (between chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions).
I then had the genetic test and the verdict was in: BRCA+ on my father’s side.
My paternal grandmother had had two cancers and died of them when my father was just a teenager. My aunt also had breast cancer.
In 2013, I was able to undergo bilateral lumbar spine reconstruction on the right and preventive lumbar spine reconstruction on the left.
5 years later, at the age of 32, a second tumour appeared in the residual tissue of my left breast. I thought I’d been through hell once and that if I removed everything, it wouldn’t happen again. But I was wrong and unprepared. So I had to relive the nightmare a second time, this time knowing what was in store for me. On top of that, I had to have hormone therapy.
I’ve also undergone IVF/PGT (embryo selection) on two occasions but it was a failure.
My desire to be a mother was so strong that in 2017 we had the opportunity to foster a 9-month-old baby girl. The ultimate opportunity.
In 2022, I decided to get an artistic tattoo to hide the scars that reminded me of what I’d been through every time I looked in the mirror.
In an instant, my view of my breasts changed and I was finally able to accept them. I finally found myself beautiful and attractive.
In 2023, I had another operation to remove my tubes and uterus.
Since June 2024, I have been a partner patient at Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc (Brussels) and everything is going pretty well 😅💪🥳🌈🌞
Even though it’s been a struggle, these poisoned gifts from life have enabled me to get to know myself better and to bring out the very essence of who I am… I now see each day as a bonus and I try not to let myself be bothered by anything any more.
Thanks to all these ordeals, I am where I am today, and it is with great pleasure that I have joined the group of ambassadors of the BRCA+ network.
BRCA+ Network asbl
