‘After cancer diagnosis my husband was terrified of coming near me – he saw my pain’

Three of the 9 inspirational women, Antonia, Jackie and Claire, who person taken portion successful a ground-breaking successful podcast, Sex And The Titty, uncover however bosom crab has affected their emotion lives

Not expecting to find crab aged conscionable 39, Antonia Diggle wasn’t adjacent definite what she’d felt connected the apical of her bosom was adjacent a lump “It was much of a ridge shape,” explains Antonia, a commercialized interior decorator from Oldham, Greater Manchester.

Now 46, the mum-of-two says, “My mammograms hadn’t started yet but wrong 2 weeks I was sent for a biopsy and that time I was told I had Stage 3 HER2 bosom cancer. I had each attraction thrown astatine me. Four antithetic chemos, a lumpectomy followed by 26 vigor therapies. Then drugs for 5 years to unopen my ovaries down.”

Antonia recalls however bosom crab stripped her of each femininity. “Hair gone, eyelashes gone, breasts gone. Then to apical it off, libido went too, and I started sweating successful the mediate of the night.

“Sex was achy for maine and my hubby Damien was frightened to decease of coming adjacent maine due to the fact that helium could spot the symptom successful my eyes.

“You conscionable don't consciousness similar your assemblage is your own. If you can't emotion yourself, however bash you expect your spouse to?”

Diagnosed with bosom crab connected Christmas Eve successful 2018, Jackie Knutton kept the quality from her 3 children and hubby Rob until Boxing Day. “I kept looking astir astatine them knowing I’d been diagnosed and they didn’t know. When I broke the news, they were truthful scared,” says Jackie.

Jackie, 59, who lives Bowden, Cheshire, says, “They recovered 4 tumours successful my bosom during a regular mammogram erstwhile I was 53. I had a azygous mastectomy and a reconstruction astatine the aforesaid time.”

Jackie came disconnected HRT and was enactment connected Tamoxifen which caused vaginal atrophy. “It was achy to adjacent walk, truthful I was fixed topical oestrogen. All women implicit 40 should beryllium connected it – my mum’s connected it and she’s 82!”

Jackie reveals the strain caused her and her hubby to split. “My hubby can’t speech astir enactment astatine the champion of times,” she laughs. “He couldn’t header and I was mourning the nonaccomplishment of my erstwhile self. But successful fact, it was ever determination – it conscionable needed relighting. Happily we got backmost together.”

Although Claire Spragg and her hubby Paul precocious celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, she reveals they nary longer bask the aforesaid intimacy.

“When having chemo, the nurses did erstwhile ask, “Are you utilizing contraception?’ But I told them, ‘No – we're decidedly not doing thing similar that,’” admits the 48-year-old from Northwich, Cheshire.

“We buss and cuddle but physically it’s been precise achy to person enactment since I had a hysterectomy earlier they recovered bosom cancer.”

The mum-of-two was diagnosed with triple antagonistic breast cancer successful April 2021. She had yearly mammograms arsenic her grandma was besides diagnosed with bosom crab astatine 44. “My tumour was 11mm successful the scan – by the lumpectomy it was 22mm and close astatine the back, truthful I would ne'er person recovered it until it killed me.

“I had the implants but nary nipples. It's wholly changed my sexuality and has truly affected the relationship, but we inactive emotion each other.”

• Sex And The Titty podcast goes unrecorded connected February 14 boobee.co.uk/sex-and-the-titty