Weight loss helped my cancer battle
ACANCER patient from Southport has revealed how weight loss helped her beat her illness, and says she feels as though she has her life back.
Liz McGowan, 57, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, and underwent a mastectomy before being given the allclear in 2015.
The mother of three joined Slimming World in the new year, achieved her first target of losing 3st in June before she reached her second and final target of 3½st in August.
Her Slimming World consultant, Dee Wright, said that doctors said the weight loss helped her cope with her reconstructive surgery.
Liz underwent surgery at the beginning of September.
She said: “Everybody was saying to lose weight because it was good for the surgery but I think people forget that it’s good for your health as well because you’re eating all the veg and fruit and things you just didn’t eat.
“I was classed as obese but everything’s just normal now, I flew through my last operation and was home the same day.
“It’s more than just losing weight, it’s your health and wellbeing.
“Dee’s been brilliant, she encourages you the whole way, I think because she’s done it herself, she gets you through the bad times, she phones, she texts.
“I’ve had weight issues as I get older as many women do, luckily I was quite skinny when I was young and you don’t notice it at first.
“When I got cancer I realised that you can’t live like that and get through the operations.
“I’ve got all my confidence back, I feel good about myself again and there’s nothing better than that.
“I want to help other people now.”
Dee said: “Liz got to target over the summer, she joined me in January after our Christmas campaign and she walked through the doors wanting to lose around 3st.
“She had been suffering with breast cancer and knew that she was going through reconstructive operations this year, and during the course of her breast cancer treatment she had been quite unwell and put on weight.
“She’d been a member of a Slimming World group before but she hadn’t really got on with it, so she came to my group in January.
“She has now achieved over a 3st weight loss.
“But the inspirational thing is that when she went for her reconstructive operation the doctors told her that her BMI is now healthy, and her recovery from the operation would be so much easier because of the weight she lost.
“She’s just inspirational for all the women out there who have suffered with breast cancer.”
Dee added that doctors praised the Southport grandmother for her efforts.
“She lost 3st and the doctor was just thrilled with her, he said that she’d done the best thing she possibly could, it makes the surgery and recovery so much easier.
“She feels like she’s got her life back.
“From my point of view as a consultant you never really know what’s brought people through your door, they join your group and they don’t really tell you why they’re slimming.
“The big thing with Liz for me was after joining in January I asked for volunteers to put out leaflets in April, and this one particular weekend we started talking and it was then that she told me the story of her breast cancer and her treatment, worrying about whether she was going to live, and how low she felt with her self-confidence because her body had seen some really terrible changes.
“She’d been through a fight for her life.
“It made me realise that we don’t really know the story behind anyone who walks through our doors.”
Dee added that Liz is now set for life with the lifestyle changes she has implemented, while she implored doctors to be more forthcoming with weight loss advice.
“Doctors don’t really share that information to anybody, you don’t see doctors saying to people to get yourself down to Slimming World or get some weight off, they’ll just say control your portions or go on a diet, but going on a diet is something that can’t be sustained for a long time.
“The changes that Liz has made, she can sustain for the rest of her life.
“A lot of the members of our group are very inspired by her and feel very lucky to have been able to support her through her weight loss to this point that she’s come to, which is such a momentous point in her recovery from cancer.”