Illness DOESN’T have to define you

I THINK it’s fair to say that I’ve had more than my share of illness. At 13, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s, a disease that attacks the bowel. I had to have part of my intestine removed, which left me with a large scar across my stomach.

that was tough on a teenager for whom a single spot seemed like the end of the world. But the way I came to deal with it was to regard it as a badge of honour.

then, out of the blue at 34, I discovered I had cancer in my left breast. I was so shocked. no one in my family has had cancer, although I now know around 70 per cent of all cancers are non-hereditary.

Ironically, it was discovered when I’d gone into hospital for a breast reduction. So that turned out to be a blessing because there had been no signs that anything was wrong. It’s how I turned a negative situation positive: I told myself how lucky I’d been to catch it so early.

On that occasion, I had a lumpectomy and about as much radiation as a human body can take. that seemed to have done the trick but then four years ago, when I went for my regular mammogram, they found a lump in my right breast.

I was told by my doctor that I could have the same procedure I’d had ten years earlier. But I made up my mind to ask for something more radical — an elective double mastectomy — to deal with the problem, I hoped, once and for all.

that was a difficult time, not least because it felt like I was losing part of my femininity. But hardships are what shape a person and I was determined to remain as strong as I could.

the operation involved taking a muscle from my back to use as part of the breast reconstruction. It took a year to recover and even now there are certain moves I can’t make when I’m dancing on Strictly because of the impact it has on my back — as anyone who’s watched me will know!

But I’m loving it. It’s part of my quest to find the inner girl in me that I lost through the mastectomy and to empower other women who are going through the same thing.