Charity’s real supermodels ready to take to the catwalk

Sue Nicklen lost her hair and nails during treatment CANCER doesn’t just take lives. It takes body parts, hair, fingernails.

It’s a disease that can rip a person’s self-confidence in two.

One of the hardest things that cancer patients have to overcome is the affect it can have on their body.

Whether through drug treatment, or surgery, those changes can have a huge impact on a person mentally.

Having to cope with these, sometimes drastic changes, when they are at their lowest, can be one more kick they really don’t need.

Sue Nicklen is currently undergoing treatment at The Christie in Withington.

Since being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, the 54-year-old has lost and re-grown her hair three times, lost three stone in weight, and watched her fingernails and toenails drop off.

She has undergone multiple surgeries, had a lumpectomy and lymph nodes removed, and been through months and months of gruelling radiotherapy, chemotherapy and biological therapy.

In March 2014, Sue went back to work as a nurse, but it was short-lived, and in September the following year she discovered the cancer had spread.

The mum-of-two, who lives in Telford, started treatment again, and in January last year was dealt another blow when doctors told her she had 12 tumours in her brain.

“For two years I had no hair on the top of my head,” she said.

“I felt so ugly. My fingernails and toenails came off. I didn’t want to go out.

“I used to be confident about my appearance, I was voluptuous, had lovely long eye lashes. But breast cancer changed all of that.”

Earlier this year, a host of famous women – all who have been affected by breast cancer – stripped down on national television to raise awareness of the disease.

Singer Michelle Heaton and journalist Victoria Derbyshire, who both underwent double mastectomies, were among the eight women to star in The Real Full Monty on ITV.

On June 16, Sue, along with 19 other women from across Greater Manchester, will too bare (almost) all as they take to the catwalk in swimsuits and lingerie in aid of cancer support charity Maggie’s Manchester.

The event aims to help cancer patients – both women and men – reclaim their body confidence and boost self-esteem while raising awareness of the disease.

Cassie Shuttleworth, from Offerton in Stockport, is another model taking part in Maggie’s on the Runway.

The 33-year-old was diagnosed with a form of breast cancer usually found in post-menopausal women, and now she is experiencing menopause symptoms herself. She wants to help raise awareness and breakaway from the stereotype that breast cancer only affects older women.

Cassie was diagnosed in December 2016. She had found a small lump in her breast several months earlier, but put off seeing a GP at first because she wasn’t sure if it was growing or not.

Before starting treatment, Cassie had to have embryo IVF treatment, as she didn’t have any children. She then underwent chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a lumpectomy, and is now on tablets for the next 10 years to prevent the cancer returning. The tablets limit the amount of oestrogen in her body, but leave her experiencing menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes.

She said: “I’ve always been quite a confident person. It wasn’t too bad when I lost my hair, I was upset, but I dealt with it.

“It was when my eyelashes and eyebrows fell out – that’s when it hit me how ill I was.

“Looking in the mirror was hard, you don’t recognise the person looking back at you.”

Cassie hopes taking part in the