A woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer after being told she couldn’t possibly have the disease as she was ‘only 25’ says taking up boxing has helped her to prepare for a second mastectomy.
Charlotte, a 27-year-old British law student, appears on new BBC3 show Work It to get physically fit ahead of her next life-changing operation.
She was diagnosed with stage 3 grade 3 breast cancer when she was 25 while travelling in Australia, after experiencing no symptoms other than a ‘dull ache’ down her right arm.
Charlotte underwent a mastectomy and aggressive rounds of chemotherapy which caused her hair to start falling out within 10 days.
Charlotte, 27, was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer after being told she couldn’t possibly have the disease as she was only 25
She is now preparing to have her other breast removed and said she wants to be in ‘as good a shape’ as she can be beforehand.
Speaking about her ‘out of the blue’ diagnosis to personal trainers Esmée Gummer, Kelechi Okafor and Jay Vincent, Charlotte said receiving the devastating news left her feeling ‘numb’.
‘It was everything you thought you understood and knew about the world, just stripped away and gone. There’s nothing you can do to prepare for that news,’ she said.
‘When I was first told I was going to have to have a masectomy, I remembered feeling the overwhelming sense of grief.
The law student said taking up boxing has helped her to prepare for a second mastectomy
Appeaing on new BBC3 show Work It to get fit ahead of her next operation, Charlotte teams up with personal trainer Esmée Gummer
‘It’s like mourning; it’s like knowing you’re going to lose something and there’s nothing you can do about it, no matter how well the treatment works, it’s going to go and it’s a sense of loss. It’s a sense of sadness, it’s something you mourn.’
Charlotte said there was ‘no lump or bump’, or any other symptoms you’re told to look out for, so she was shocked when a scan revealed a tumour the size of an orange.
‘I went to the doctor and I was told, “You’re 25! No one gets breast cancer really when you’re 25, don’t worry about it”,’ she recalled.
‘[The tumour] was growing inwards which is also why there wasn’t an obvious difference in the size of my breasts. It turned my life upside down.’
Emotional Charlotte said when she was first told she was going to have to have a masectomy, she remembered feeling an overwhelming sense of grief
Personal trainers Kelechi Okafor, pictured right, and Jay Vincent, pictured left, were visibly moved by Charlotte’s story
Charlotte praised her ‘incredible’ family for getting her through, explaining that her mother gave up her job to care for her.
‘My dad is an absolute rock,’ she added. ‘There was nothing they could do and I know how much that hurt them.
‘My mum really struggled with the unknown because you don’t know what’s going to happen, you start chemo and you have no guarantees, you don’t know and that’s hard for them.’
Charlotte’s aggressive form of chemotherapy caused her hair to start falling out within 10 days.
Charlotte said there was ‘no lump or bump’, or any other symptoms you’re told to look out for, so she was shocked when a scan revealed a tumour the size of an orange. Pictured receiving a supportive hug from personal trainer Esmée
‘You could touch my hair and just pull it out, it was coming out in clumps,’ she said.
‘My dad had to shave my head, and I don’t think any parent should have to do that. I don’t think anyone should have to sit there and shave their child’s head.’
Charlotte kept her condition a secret from her friends for six months before eventually announcing it on Facebook with pictures of her bald head.
She told the PTs: ‘I put, “I braved the shave!” And then put, “Just joking, I have cancer,” and then explained it all to them and went, “No really, I do!”
‘Some people didn’t take it very well.’
Charlotte told how she’s decided to remove her other breast, despite the fact it may ‘never be a problem’.
Esmée, pictured showing Charlotte how to punch, said she believes she is holding in a lot of frustration and putting on a brave face
‘If it is a problem, it could kill me,’ she reasoned. ‘So it’s a gamble.
‘I want to get to the place where I look at [my scars] and think, f*** yeah, that’s me.’
Acknowledging that she’s mentally stronger now than before her ordeal, Charlotte said she wants to ensure she’s in the best physical state she can be before undergoing surgery.
She is taken under the wing of Esmée who introduces her to boxing, calling the sport an ‘amazing way to release energy and that tension’.
Esmée said she believes Charlotte is holding in a lot of frustration and putting on a brave face.
Acknowledging that she’s mentally stronger now than before her ordeal, Charlotte said she wants to ensure she’s in the best physical state she can be before undergoing surgery
Seeing Charlotte get stuck into the punching, Esmée remarked how it appeared to help her forget everything that’s going on in her outside life and ‘what she thinks she’s defined by’.
‘That’s going to be really helpful for her,’ she added.
Four weeks into the training programme, which requires her to work out four times a week, Charlotte said boxing has helped give her ‘inner confidence’ as well as benefited her fitness.
‘I think the obvious part of it is that you box, then you finish, you walk away feeling a little bit bad a**,’ she said.
‘I’m not striving to get back to how I was, I’m striving to find a new version, but I refuse to give up.’
Work It is available to watch now on BBC 3.