Cancer Research UK advises that thinking positively can help cancer sufferers deal with their often frightening diagnoses, and How To Be 60's Karen MacKenzie has given a given a great example on how that's done
Loose Women's Kaye Adams has expressed her amazement at her friend's reaction to being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Karen MacKenzie had detected a small lump on one breast, and when she checked with her GP, the NHS machine sprang into action immediately. "That day, I got a mammogram. I got an ultrasound, and I got a biopsy," Karen explained on their How To Be 60 podcast. "By the end of the appointment, it was quite clear that there was a cancerous tumour there."
But, to Kaye's amazement, Karen then popped over to Italy for a holiday. Karen continued: "I had an MRI the day after I got back from holiday, which found tumours – interestingly enough, the lump that I went in with is benign, and the breast on the other side is the one with the tumours."
Karen added that, in retrospect she had missed one or two clues to her cancer. She continued: "Now that I see my breasts though, there was a tiny little sort of ripple at the bottom. And I think that's all I could describe it just a little bit of a tuck in the skin, and that's an indication."
She's already undergone some treatment, and there are some further procedures coming soon, but Karen has managed to retain a breezy, matter-of-fact attitude to her diagnosis. And it's left Kaye stunned.
Kaye told her: "I have to say, you're handling this incredibly, I really do take my hat off to you. I think you've been remarkable in terms of the way you're dealing with it."
Kaye added that Karen had even cycled to and from some of her appointments, underlining her stoic attitude to the condition.
Karen said that she had found a couple of lumps in her breast the past – once when she was breastfeeding and again after she had been prescribed HRT during menopause. Neither turned out to be cancerous.
She explained: "I have no reason to believe this, but the back of my mind, I think the benign lump here was maybe brought on by HRT. I don't know that, because I came off HRT as soon as I realised."
Experts say that, while there's no evidence that HRT directly causes cancer, it can slightly increase the risk of certain cancers, particularly breast cancer and, in some cases, ovarian or womb cancer. The risk varies depending on the type of HRT used, the duration of treatment, and individual factors like age and family history.
Karen admits that she has had an occasional "wobble" once or twice, confessing "I think it was hard," but suspects that most of the time she could still be in denial.
"I don't know whether my head's still in the sand," she admitted, "I'm not in any pain. I wouldn't think there's anything wrong with me. I don't feel any lumps on that side. It's just like it's happening to somebody else."
Kaye says she been very impressed with her friend's philosophical attitude to the shock diagnosis. Cancer Research UK advises that being positive and thinking positively can help cancer sufferers deal with their often frightening diagnoses.
