Published on: 17 February 2025
Marking the launch today of the NHS's first ever national breast screening campaign, Sue from Barnsley shares a letter from her left boob to all those worried about getting tested:
Hi, I am Sue’s Left Boob, we are now 70 years old and she is writing to you on my behalf to tell you about our breast cancer.
I tried to put Sue off from going to her screening appointment, I mean who wants to be squished if you can avoid it! I told her, ‘Look, we have always gone for breast screening since you were 50, and the results have always been clear. There is no history of cancer in the family and now you are retired, just take it easy and go and have a nice Cream Tea with your mates or something.’ But would she listen? No, so off we went.
You see, Sue was a Nurse before she retired and she said that there is a 98% survival rate from early detection of breast cancer, so we are going and that’s that! Anyway, she was right to insist, as it turned out I had a Grade 2 tumour inside me, crikey!
The surgery was done soon after and luckily it hadn’t spread to the under-arm lymph nodes (they were dead cocky about that I can tell you) and, so we just needed some follow up radiotherapy. The advice and support that we received were fantastic, and we were treated with dignity.
We are now all clear and, apart from a fading scar, no one can tell. Sue is enjoying life, she’s back swimming, and doing all sorts. But it could have been so different.
So, my message to other women (and their boobs) is when that letter comes don’t put it off, because it saved our life, it can save yours too.
From Sue Wilson, Barnsley
