Cancer has given me a fearlessness that has made me braver’
A CANCER patient says she has been given a “new lease of life” in her battle against the disease – by modelling knockout outfits on Instagram.
Fashion-lover Harriet Hannan, 31, wears a series of glamorous clothes as she keeps people updated on social media about her fight for life.
Harriet was determined to hold on to her sense of style after being diagnosed, despite facing hair loss and terrible sickness after chemo.
Harriet, from Cardiff, said: “I always liked to experiment with my clothes but cancer has given me a fearlessness that has made me braver with my choices. In a way it’s like I’m owning my cancer and empowering myself by not hiding away.
“People look when you have a bald head, they can’t help it, and so this is a way of embracing that attention and having my clothes admired instead of people feeling sorry for me.”
Harriet was diagnosed with stage 2, triple-positive breast cancer in February 2018 at age 30 after finding a 1p-sized lump in her right breast. She went to the GP who referred her for a biopsy.
Harriet said: “Within two weeks of my GP appointment I had the biopsy and I was so confident that everything was going to be OK that I went to get my results on my own. I thought that I eat healthily, don’t smoke and I’m young – everything was on my side. But to hear that I had cancer, I could barely take it in.
“I called my sister in a state of shock and didn’t tell my partner until he finished work. In my mind I thought I wouldn’t disturb him. But now that seems crazy.”
A treatment plan was drawn up for Harriet which included fertility treatment to give her the chance of having children after chemotherapy. She added: “I had chemotherapy to shrink the size of my lump so that I could avoid a mastectomy and have lump removed.
“Now I am recovering after having had the surgery. I will start radiotherapy in September just to make sure the whole site is cancer-free. Scans at the moment are looking clear. I feel confident I am going to survive.”
During treatment Harriet decided to start an Instagram account to reach out and find other young women going through cancer treatment.
She said: “I decided to start the Instagram to hopefully inspire others that when times are hard you can find strength in feeling your best and expressing yourself through style. just the
“Cancer is a really hard road and it takes so much from you physically, mentally and emotionally so it’s important to hold on to a sense of self and have fun when you can. I also wanted to change some of the perceptions of having cancer meaning you are confined to a hospital bed with a grey face in your pyjamas.
“There are down days, of course, when I have to rest and I’m not able to get ready or leave the house. But having cancer has made me want to make the most of the good days more than ever.
“I have this new lease of life that’s allowed me to let go of small anxieties and just live every moment.”