Even the Eyebrows?

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the UK, with over 40,000 cases being diagnosed annually; death rates however have fallen by 21% over the past 10 years.

In 2004; mum of three Sharon Morrison became ‘one of those cancer statistics’. She sat nervously in the local doctors surgery, her face as pale as the walls surrounding her, with the scariest of thoughts flying around her head as she awaited those three dreaded words.

“You have cancer.”

I had played football with her son Richard for years and Sharon, like many mums and dads, spent many a weekend shivering at the edge of a muddy football field in the freezing cold cheering on her son’s team. Sharon had written a book about her experiences, ‘ Even the Eyebrows?” I recently caught up with her to share her story, a journey …show more content…
In this case a simple operation would turn in to a more difficult situation. With the tumor removed and the operation a success Sharon remained in hospital for a few days. She waited until the following Thursday for results, which would reveal if the cancer had spread.

Sharon told me about her feelings at this point, “If finding out you have cancer is the worst thing, finding out it has spread is the next worst.”

The good news came that Thursday but shortly after the realization that chemotherapy was the next step for Sharon suddenly hit home. I asked Sharon what her initial thoughts were when being given the news.

She said, “Initially I didn’t realise I’d need it. I thought if they got the cancer and it hadn’t spread, that would be it. Sadly, my cancer was a grade three (there are only three grades and three is the most aggressive), so chemo was a very necessary evil. It’s a blunt instrument, but it’s the only one we’ve got and it works. The big fear for me wasn’t how I’d cope with the chemo, but how I’d cope with no hair. And I did lose my hair and it was