EXCLUSIVE I was a 'one-boobed bride' on my wedding day but I still felt gorgeous walking down the aisle
A woman who had a mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer has said she still felt 'beautiful' as a 'one-boobed bride' on her wedding day.
Lynn Siffleet, 67 from the Wirral, was first diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer last June during a routine mammogram, despite having no visible symptoms or lumps.
Just three months ahead of her wedding to 'lovely' husband, Roy, Lynn was completely blindsided by the diagnosis, and was left needing an emergency mastectomy.
She explained that she hadn't felt anything wrong in the run up to her diagnosis and had no idea that she was unwell until the examination.
'My lumps were deep inside the breast, so it shows the importance of still getting your mammograms regularly on top of checking yourself,' she said.
Lynn was referred to hospital and received a mastectomy in August 2024, just two months after receiving the life changing diagnosis.
With the big day just around the corner, she was given a breast reconstruction to help her fill out her wedding gown - only for disaster to strike when she developed a complication.
'I was a 34E, I had my wedding coming up, so I thought "oh yeah I want to look normal, put in the implant"', she said.
Despite feeling hopeful after her reconstruction, soon after Lynn was rushed to hospital after catching necrosis.
She was taken to theatre immediately where she had to have the implant removed and the mastectomy scar reclosed.
'It was a really intense time and with the wedding coming up I was worried how I would feel and look but Roy was there with me through the whole thing, and he still couldn't wait to marry me.'
After two previous marriages, Lynn wasn't convinced she would ever find love again, and was over the moon when she met Roy.
After connecting on Match.com, the pair met up and hit it off instantly, forging a love they hope will last a lifetime.
'I never thought I'd be able to trust someone with my heart again, but then I met Roy who was just this beautiful, old-school romantic man and I fell in love,' she said.
After a year of dating, Lynn popped the question to Roy on New Years Eve.
'It was a leap year and I thought "Girl power, I'm going to do it and I did!'", she recalled.
The couple tied the knot in September 2024, just three months after Lynn's original diagnosis.
'I felt amazing on my wedding day, truly gorgeous and having been through my recent journey with breast cancer, I felt even more grateful to be marrying this man with all my wonderful friends and family, including my 93-year-old mum Elizabeth watching.'
The new bride said she was immensely grateful for the efforts of those who helped care for her in what was one of the most difficult periods of her life.
'I'd also like to thank the amazing team in the breast cancer unit at the Clatterbridge hospital on the Wirral for their great care and support during this time,' she said.
Lynn is hosting an afternoon tea this August raising funds for Breast Cancer Now, the research and support charity, to give back after her experience.
'I'm getting all the gals together for nice cake and sandwiches, there will be bingo, pass the parcel and name that tune not to mention I'll be doing the garden out with bunting and whatnot!'
Every 10 minutes, someone in the UK is told the news 'you have breast cancer'.
Reflecting on her cancer journey, Lynn said: 'It's one year since my diagnosis this June, and thanks to charities like Breast Cancer Now that fund research and awareness, I'm able to be here continuing to live my life.
'I want women to know it's important they know they can still book mammograms over 70.
'The main thing is I have my health, Roy and I have my twin sister Jayne, my family, and despite my experience, I'm so glad I was diagnosed and was able to be treated for this disease.'
Georgie Gibbons, Afternoon Tea manager at Breast Cancer Now, said: 'I want to say a huge heartfelt thank you to Lynn for hosting an Afternoon Tea and we hope you have a wonderful time and enjoy the chance to get together with friends and family whilst knowing you are raising money to drive forward Breast Cancer Now's life-saving research and provide vital support.
'Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with over 55,000 people diagnosed each year.
'This is why we're calling on people across the UK to host an Afternoon Tea this August to help fund our life-saving breast cancer research and vital support services.
'It's not too late to host your own Afternoon Tea, and it doesn't have to be big or fancy. Whether you bake or buy, just give it a try – because every single Afternoon Tea will help to give support for today and hope for the future to people affected by breast cancer.'
Join Lynn in supporting life-saving breast cancer research and life-changing support by taking part in this year's Breast Cancer Now Afternoon Tea.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world and affects more than two MILLION women a year
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Each year in the UK there are more than 55,000 new cases, and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. In the US, it strikes 266,000 each year and kills 40,000. But what causes it and how can it be treated?
What is breast cancer?
It comes from a cancerous cell which develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts.
When the breast cancer has spread into surrounding tissue it is called 'invasive'. Some people are diagnosed with 'carcinoma in situ', where no cancer cells have grown beyond the duct or lobule.
Most cases develop in those over the age of 50 but younger women are sometimes affected. Breast cancer can develop in men, though this is rare.
Staging indicates how big the cancer is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and stage 4 means the cancer has spread to another part of the body.
The cancerous cells are graded from low, which means a slow growth, to high, which is fast-growing. High-grade cancers are more likely to come back after they have first been treated.
What causes breast cancer?
A cancerous tumour starts from one abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or alters certain genes in the cell. This makes the cell abnormal and multiply 'out of control'.
Although breast cancer can develop for no apparent reason, there are some risk factors that can increase the chance, such as genetics.
What are the symptoms of breast cancer?
The usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast, although most are not cancerous and are fluid filled cysts, which are benign.
The first place that breast cancer usually spreads to is the lymph nodes in the armpit. If this occurs you will develop a swelling or lump in an armpit.
How is breast cancer diagnosed?
Initial assessment: A doctor examines the breasts and armpits. They may do tests such as a mammography, a special x-ray of the breast tissue which can indicate the possibility of tumours.
Biopsy: A biopsy is when a small sample of tissue is removed from a part of the body. The sample is then examined under a microscope to look for abnormal cells. The sample can confirm or rule out cancer.
If you are confirmed to have breast cancer, further tests may be needed to assess if it has spread. For example, blood tests, an ultrasound scan of the liver or a chest X-ray.
How is breast cancer treated?
Treatment options which may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone treatment. Often a combination of two or more of these treatments are used.
Surgery: Breast-conserving surgery or the removal of the affected breast depending on the size of the tumour.
Radiotherapy: A treatment which uses high energy beams of radiation focused on cancerous tissue. This kills cancer cells, or stops them from multiplying. It is mainly used in addition to surgery.
Chemotherapy: A treatment of cancer by using anti-cancer drugs which kill cancer cells, or stop them from multiplying.
Hormone treatments: Some types of breast cancer are affected by the 'female' hormone oestrogen, which can stimulate the cancer cells to divide and multiply. Treatments which reduce the level of these hormones, or prevent them from working, are commonly used in people with breast cancer.
How successful is treatment?
The outlook is best in those who are diagnosed when the cancer is still small, and has not spread. Surgical removal of a tumour in an early stage may then give a good chance of cure.
The routine mammography offered to women between the ages of 50 and 71 means more breast cancers are being diagnosed and treated at an early stage.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
ALEXANDRA SHULMAN'S NOTEBOOK: How cherry vodka took the edge off my 'scanxiety'
It's exactly a year since I was in hospital, recovering from a six-hour operation to remove a cancerous tumour from my colon. This means two things. One, that it's Glastonbury weekend, which 12 months back I was watching from my adjustable bed wired up to a zillion tubes. Hospital days are long, but the nights are even longer, and lying in that dark ward the noisy joy of Glastonbury was a welcome distraction. The other, more haunting thing, is the onset of 'scanxiety'. As everyone who has cancer knows, this is the dread of the routine scan and what it might reveal. It messes with your head, removing a large dollop of rationality. Last week was my first-year follow-up colonoscopy, and on the morning of the procedure I looked at the cherry tree in our garden. We've been blessed with a magnificent amount of bright red, sadly sour fruit this summer, and along with fretting about the scan I was wondering what to do with it all. It seemed a shame to just leave the cherries dangling there for the pigeons to feed on, but I'm not a cherry pie kind of gal, nor a jam-maker. But then the scanxiety kicked in. Would doing something constructive with the cherries mean the scan would reveal some new horror? It's obviously not clear headed, but in my mind, having the hubris to think it was worth making something out of the cherries would be tempting fate. In the end, common sense prevailed and I made a jar of cherry vodka before heading to the hospital. Very fortunately, the scan was clear. I now have no excuse not to try my hand at the jam or pie making, and there's enough cherry vodka in the freezer to take the edge off my next bout of scanxiety. An at-home test could save you too On the subject of medical testing, my cancer was picked up by the DIY bowel cancer test mailed out by the NHS. Last week the Government announced it would be sending at-home cervical cancer tests to women who've never attended smear tests. My gut feeling is that most people who are too queasy to attend the testing already on offer are unlikely to do their own, but perhaps not having someone else prod around your vagina might be an encouragement. At any rate I would urge everyone who receives one to take up the offer. It could save your life. The terrible curse of White Lotus 'That's the plan.' Those three words haven't sounded the same since Season 3 of HBO's The White Lotus. Anyone who's seen the moving scene between the emotionally damaged Rick and the younger, optimistic hippie-chick Chelsea, when Rick finally agrees that their destiny is to be together for the rest of their lives, will remember those words. 'That's the plan,' he says to her astonishment. Next thing we know they are both murdered. Now whenever anyone says 'that's the plan', it's that scene with Walton Goggins in his tropical print shirt and Aimee Lou Wood's toothy grin, that comes to mind, and with it a sense of impending doom. My lack of curiosity didn't kill the cat! Time was running out to find someone to take care of our cat Coco when we went away recently, so for the first time in 18 years we searched online for help. We found TrustedHousesitters, which pairs owners with sitters. The process was similar to how I imagine online dating would be – a shot in the dark. I plumped for a sweet Canadian boy with five-star reviews who I only spoke to on FaceTime briefly before his arrival. The night before the trip I had a total panic. Despite being a woman who returned to work leaving her four-month-old son in the care of a nanny who'd only arrived the night before, abandoning Coco to a complete stranger felt more worrying. I realised that I knew nothing about the Canadian other than the basic information provided online. All I had was his mobile telephone number. I didn't even know his surname. I had visions of the subsequent news stories: 'Former Vogue editor's home is raided and cat killed by man she gave the keys to without bothering to learn his name.' As it happened there was no need for the front-page fears and we returned to a very happy cat. My son survived his nanny back then, too. Shining example of our lack of urgency Arhitect Norman Foster's plans for a memorial to the late Queen in St James's Park look splendid, in particular the glass balustrade bridge which will shimmer beautifully over the lake. But why does everything have to take so long? The final designs aren't going to be passed until next year and there is no completion date scheduled. With this country's tragic lack of urgency when it comes to getting things done, there's every chance we could be well into the next decade before this beautiful new parkscape emerges. Mysterious return of the mini dress It's not only the Kardashian clan at the Bezos wedding who are kitted out in mini dresses – they're springing up everywhere. After years of women in wafting midis, the mini is back. The famous hemline index – that long hems are fashionable in economically tough times while short skirts thrive in economic prosperity – isn't exactly describing what we're experiencing. But perhaps fashion knows something we don't? Now wouldn't that be fine.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Cannabis 'is worse for our society than heroin,' police tsars say - as they demand government upgrade it to a class A drug
More than a quarter of police and crime commissioners have written to the policing minister calling for cannabis to be upgraded to a class A substance, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. In the stark letter to Dame Diana Johnson MP, seen exclusively by this newspaper, 14 police chiefs claim the effect of the drug in society 'may be far worse' than heroin. They warn that 'we cannot allow this to become the Britain of the future'. And they also hit out at the recent report by the London Commission – backed by Labour London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan – which suggested decriminalising small amounts of cannabis, which is currently a class B drug. 'Heroin can kill quickly but the cumulative effect of cannabis in our society may be far worse,' the letter states. It adds that class A status – which comes with potential life sentences for suppliers – was the way forward 'rather than effective decriminalising'. And renowned psychiatrist Professor Sir Robin Murray, of King's College London, told The Mail on Sunday that the UK may now be 'at the beginnings of an epidemic of cannabis-induced psychosis' which could overwhelm NHS mental health services. The commissioners also pointed to other countries where laws are laxer, warning that the US has seen 'unofficial pharmacies' selling cannabis and the powerful opiate fentanyl alongside one another, while Portugal has been forced to consider reversing drug decriminalisation after a 30-fold increase in psychosis. They said cannabis's effects were so devastating it had 'more birth defects associated with it than thalidomide' – the notorious morning sickness drug which caused deformities among thousands of babies in the 1950s and 1960s. Their warnings came after Marcus Monzo, 37, was last week found guilty of 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin's murder after he attacked him with a samurai sword in Hainault, east London, while in a state of cannabis-induced psychosis. David Sidwick, Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, said cannabis legislation was 'clearly not fit for purpose' and likened it to 'using a machete for brain surgery'. He added the public wanted to see 'tougher measures' for cannabis possession because it was a gateway to harder drugs. His Devon and Cornwall counterpart Alison Hernandez said: 'The fact that we've been so blase about cannabis in society means that people think it's legal and normal, and it's not. 'We've got to show them that it's not, and the way you do that is to be quite fierce in your enforcement arrangements.' Latest figures show three in four people caught with cannabis avoid appearing in court, while 87 per cent of children and young people in alcohol and drug treatment cited cannabis dependency, compared to 39 per cent for alcohol. Stuart Reece, an Australian clinician and cannabis researcher quoted in the letter said more than 90 per cent of hard drug addicts he encountered had started with cannabis. He said pro-cannabis campaigners had the view it was 'my right to use drugs and destroy my body and you will pay for it through the NHS'. Dr Karen Randall, a physician in the US state of Colorado where recreational cannabis was legalised in 2012, said healthcare costs linked to the drug are 'exorbitant'. A Home Office spokesman said: 'We work with partners across health, policing and wider public services to drive down drug use, ensure more people receive timely treatment and support, and make our streets and communities safer.'
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Disposable vape ban: I buy my kids vapes to control their addiction
Emma is doing something she swore she would never an attempt to have some control over her children's vaping habits, she's resorted to buying them the vapes not proud of it, but says it feels like the only way to keep her two teenagers safe and reduce the high levels of nicotine they were consuming."It went against every bone in my body to do that, but they're addicted," Emma says. "It's not a simple case of telling them to stop – it is so much harder than that."Emma believes her son, who she has asked the BBC not to name, began vaping in primary managed to keep it from her for a while, but by the time he got to high school, his protests of "that vape's not mine" had started to wear the time Emma's son was 15, he was becoming breathless, contracted tonsillitis, and, at one point, was in so much pain, Emma called an ambulance."The paramedics said the incessant vaping could be causing this," she says. "They told him to try and stop, or at the very least cut down."It was then Emma decided something had to change – she was going to take control and buy the vapes - trying to reduce their nicotine intake from 20mg to 10mg."I warned them – if I see them with a device that has more nicotine in – then I'll stop buying them any, full stop."Emma says she felt she could then be confident the vapes would be from a reputable supplier, they wouldn't be illegal and contain other harmful products, and she could control the level of nicotine. Best of weekend picks Not only is it illegal to sell vapes to anyone under the age of 18, it is also illegal to buy them for anyone underage. Emma knows what she is doing isn't legal, but feels this was her only believes she has managed to reduce her son's nicotine intake, in part by buying the vapes, but also by having such an open conversation with Emma says the disposable vape ban, which came into effect on 1 June, has had little impact on her children's nicotine was introduced due to environmental concerns and to reduce the rising number of children and young people vapes provide a far healthier alternative to cigarettes, there are concerns that vaping provides a gateway into nicotine addiction - with disposable vapes enticing children and young people with their fruity flavours and cheap experts agree anyone who does not smoke should not start vaping, as it may cause long-term damage to the lungs, heart and weeks after the ban came into force, Kate Pike from the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, says she fears it won't make any difference - and she says some rechargeable vapes, which are still legal to buy, are being marketed directly at children."We are finding compliant products – vapes that are refillable and rechargeable – with packs of stickers in them," she says. "What adult is going to want to decorate their vape with stickers?"She also says it is very difficult to tell the difference between the now-illegal disposables and the legal refillable vapes. And due to some being fitted with pre-filled pods, they are still being used "like disposable vapes and discarded." At Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, home to the UK's first NHS vaping clinic for children, Professor Rachel Isba says parents should not be hard on themselves – they are fighting a battle against the might of a huge vaping industry."The important thing is not to judge your child; the world our young people live in is a difficult place to grow up in," she says. "There are so many competing pressures."Her clinic supports 11-15-year-olds who have been referred by other NHS healthcare professionals. It has been open since January and already has a six-week waiting list."The children that come to see me have to want to see me and understand why they are here," Prof Isba says. "It could be that they are noticing a change with their bodies – they struggle to play sport without being out of breath for instance, or they're coughing up blood, or they just know they're addicted and they want to stop or cut down." She says some young people are sleeping with vapes under their pillows so they can get a nicotine hit in the middle of the night, and their addiction can be so strong they experience "micro withdrawals" in school."They are consuming nicotine so frequently that they begin to feel anxious if they don't have it – even for the length of a double maths lesson, for example."They then think they need the vape to reduce the anxiety, she explains, but it is nicotine withdrawal that is causing those feelings in the first Isba offers nicotine replacement therapy – such as gums and patches – and talks to them about how vaping affects their lives."We might discuss ways they might be able to cut down, what triggers them to vape and even how much money they might save simply by not vaping."She says the government's Tobacco and Vapes bill is a good step forward but would like to see more paediatric addiction services across the problem is "far greater" than her clinic, she says, and she is concerned vaping could become a gateway drug into smoking and other from Twickenham, a father of three boys, agrees. He says the conversation about youth vaping is redundant because, he says, that "horse has bolted".His 17-year-old got expelled from school in February because he was caught with cannabis in his vape, and his 14-year-old was close to losing his school place recently because of a similar issue."Vaping is a gateway drug," Dan says. "They become addicted to nicotine and then harder stuff follows. "They've definitely smoked [cigarettes] and now my eldest is addicted to nicotine pouches. It's never ending."A government spokesperson told the BBC it was taking "tough action" to tackle youth vaping - including giving Trading Standards the power to issue £200 on-the-spot fines to anyone found selling tobacco or vapes to people also added that single-use vapes were a "blight on our streets" and that the government had made it compulsory for all vape retailers to provide recycling bins.
