'Like Kate Middleton, I had to tell my young child I had cancer - it was the first time she saw me cry'
28.04.2024 - 13:03
/ ok.co.uk
Nina Lopes, 42, from south London had her world rocked when she was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer in 2021, aged just 36, and told she had just three months to live. While the 42 year old has beaten the odds, she has had to have difficult conversations with her daughter Ilani, 13, including the heartwrenching moment she told her about her terminal diagnosis. Now, she tells us about how she approached these conversations with her small child, and the unbreakable bond she shares with her daughter.
"I was diagnosed in 2018, when my daughter was around six years old. I worked as head designer in menswear, so I was traveling all over the place, and I was also getting divorced at the time, but in January, I noticed that I was just very, very tired. I went to the doctor multiple times and I explained all my symptoms, but they were being ignored.
By July, I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. At this point, I had actually found a lump in my breast. When I went to the doctor at first, they told me it was nothing.
Then the lump got bigger, and only then was I finally diagnosed.
If this happens to you, be your best advocate. You know your body better than anyone. I kept persisting.
I kept going to the doctor. I kept saying, 'Something is not right.' If you go to the doctor and you don't feel like you got to the bottom of an issue, then change doctor and get a second opinion. I think as young women, we get dismissed we're told we're 'too young', but look at me now.
There’s no such thing as ‘too young’ to get cancer.
Telling my daughter was something I'll never forget because I think that's the first time she saw me cry, but I knew that I wanted to be really honest with her.