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Breast Cancer Stories | Jacqueline Bassaragh, 53
Posted by Claire Boote, on October 23, 2020.
Estimated reading time: 1 minute(s)
Jacqueline Bassaragh, 53
Two years ago, Jacqueline Bassaragh, a former teacher, was diagnosed with Stage 2 Breast Cancer. Jacqueline’s future career path was put on hold having experienced painful and unexpected symptoms.
Barely six weeks into Jacqueline’s new job, she started to notice odd occurrences in her body, such as a period post-menopause, a left breast that felt extremely hard, tender and hot, plus ductal leakage.
After also detecting a small lump, Jacqueline did not hesitate to make an appointment with her GP. She was referred to her local hospital for a mammogram and a hystereoscopy. A few weeks later, Jacqueline was given her diagnosis: High Grade DCIS breast cancer.
With her recent career move, Jacqueline initially felt this news was a cruel twist of fate; why her? After all the challenging events that Jacqueline had previously experienced in her life, this proclamation felt incredibly unfair.
When the cancer was found to be contained within the milk duct, Jacqueline, luckily, avoided the need for radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
However, a rushed return to work after surgery left Jacqueline with excruciating side effects including bilateral frozen shoulders, widespread bone and muscle pain, intense hot flushes, impaired cognitive function and chronic fatigue.
Having stopped two different drug treatments, Jacqueline still experienced widespread pain including chronic pelvic pain, upper abdominal pain, chronic fatigue and chronic headaches. Jacqueline returned to hospital for a hysteroscopy, a blood test for ovarian cancer, H Pylori test and a CT scan. The result: Fibromyalgia. Nothing sinister.
Jacqueline describes her experience: “My quality of life has been adversely affected by side effects of prescribed medications, but my life has been saved and my prognosis is encouraging.
“When you are given the devastating news that you have cancer it is a shock and very frightening. Allow your family and friends to help you however they can. You are not alone.
“I was referred to Black Women Rising in October 2018 and it was a lifeline in supporting my emotional needs. It helped me to navigate through my breast cancer journey which, I have accepted, does not end after surgery and treatment.”
As part of their collaboration with Future Dreams, Royce Lingerie gave Jacquelin a post-surgery bra. Jacqueline adds: “The bra feels like it was custom made personally for me. The comfort, shape and, equally as important, contemporary design supported me in regaining my confidence and femininity. Thank you Royce”.
