MUM-OF-TWO: ‘I watched my two sisters battle breast cancer’
Leisha Lush has stood by both her sisters – pub worker Amy Buller, 35, and Katie Evans, 45, a full-time mum to Jessica, 20, Ben, 18, Lucy, 13, and Emily, seven – as they’ve undergone treatment for breast cancer. Now Leisha has yearly mammograms to test for the disease.
Leisha, 43, says: “I really feel for Coleen Nolan. Both my sisters were diagnosed with breast cancer within a month of each other and it was so tough watching them go through it. I’d have done anything to take away their pain.
“It was in November 2015 that my dad called me to tell me that Amy had cancer. I was devastated for her – she was so young and active, it was hard to believe she really had cancer.
“We were all reeling from the news and then three weeks after her diagnosis, Katie found a lump. She had an appointment at a breast clinic and shortly afterwards was told she had breast cancer too. I felt like I’d been hit by a steam roller. I couldn’t believe that both my sisters had cancer. I felt sick.”
VERY LONELY
Leisha adds: “I love both of my sisters, but I’m probably closer to Katie – my two girls, Charlie, 11, and Ruby, eight, are a similar age to her youngest two, and we live just round the corner from each other.
“I would have done anything for my sisters and I looked after Katie as she went through her chemo – there were times when she couldn’t get out of her bed, so I’d take her kids out for the day.
“I think cancer is probably a very lonely thing to go through and I know that Katie and Amy were able to compare notes about their treatment as they went through it together. It brought us all much closer together.
MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT
“People say that I must feel it’s only a matter of time before I get it. I don’t worry about it too much, but I check myself far more often and I’m glad I’ve been offered yearly mammograms. My last one was clear but I’m due to have one this month.
“I do worry for my girls, though. I know we don’t carry the breast cancer gene, but I can’t help but feel there must be something in our genes, although doctors say it’s just bad luck.
“Amy is clear of cancer now but Katie is still being treated. Now I just make the most of every moment with them.”