‘The only thing I knew was the PM had a bad haircut’
It’s the stomach-dropping news no-one wants to hear, least of all a mum with two young children to care for. Joanne Aston tells reporter Lydia Catling of her remarkable against-all-odds battle with life-limiting secondary breast cancer and her determinati
It was mum Joanne Aston’s 42nd birthday when doctors delivered the devastating news that she had breast cancer and might not live to see her daughter’s first birthday.
That was six years - and 40 cycles of chemotherapy treatments - ago.
Now 48, Joanne has raised thousands for charity and makes sure she lives life to the fullest.
What she initially believed to be a calcium build up from breastfeeding was in fact a cancerous lump the size of a matchbox.
Since diagnosis, the mum-oftwo, of Cranborne Road, Maidstone, has defied the odds, living with the disease despite it spreading to her spine, brain, liver and lungs.
She said: “I did all the tests and checks but because I thought it would never happen to me I didn’t pursue it. “Finding out felt like driving into a wall on a motorbike. “I can remember it so well. I felt like I was letting my family down.”
When she finally plucked up the courage to visit the doctor about the lump, they told her she was too young to have a mammogram but she insisted. Without her persistence, the cancer may have never been identified.
“My advice would be if you find something, put yourself first and go to the doctors. We always think we don’t have the time and it won’t affect us.”
In total, Joanne has received five different types of chemotherapy treatments, amounting to 40 cycles overall.
Her husband, Stephen, 42, takes care of their children, James, 10, and Sophie, seven, doing the school run and making sure their lives remain as normal as possible, while her mother, Pam May, 79, takes her to hospital appointments and cares for her at home. Joanne’s children are aware of her illness but the family refer to different cancers as superheroes to make the concept seem less daunting. She said: “My cancer e is currently known as Mummy 10, after Ben 10, and they know when it changes we have to change the treatment.
“We try to not create an impact on them. They seem okay and are happy consid