AS SHE PREPARES TO TAKE TO THE CATWALK FOR CHARITY
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du Mo inf @b 03 was born at 2.30am in the same hospital where I had visited the breast clinic.
“I was so elated by Eva’s birth that I honestly hadn’t given much thought to what the test results might be.
“So when the staff from the breast unit came to the maternity unit and told me I had breast cancer, I don’t think I could really take it in.”
Gwen and her husband Marcos, a church pastor she met while volunteering in South America, contacted friends and relatives to break the news not only of Eva’s safe arrival but also of Gwen’s cancer diagnosis.
She said: “Everyone was so shocked but so supportive too and offered to do anything they could to help.
Sunday Mail
keep a positive outlook and they gave me strength.
“As a family, we had planned to head off to South America a few months after Eva was born, where Marcos and I were going to work as missionaries, but obviously we had to put our plans on hold.
“That meant I had Marcos at home with me for the year and, despite all the craziness that was going on, I look back on that quality family time we had together as pretty special.” When Gwen’s cancer treatment finished, the family moved to Bolivia, where she and Marcos founded a community centre in one of the most deprived areas of Cochabamba.
Gwen started pre-school classes for children across the city and did all she could to raise awareness of breast cancer.
She said: “I always believed one of the positives that might come out of my illness would be that I could go on to support other women with breast cancer, both in the UK and in South America.
“In Bolivia, there is no NHS and, if something is wrong, women tend to wait until the pain is unbearable before they go for help.
“But I made it part of my role to do all I could to make women breast and body aware. I got experts along to teach them how to check their breasts for lumps and even give them free smear tests.”
After eight years living in Bolivia, the family have now returned to the UK and Gwen continues to do all she can to raise awareness of breast cancer.
In October, she will appear as a model in the Breast Cancer Care Scotland Fashion Show – and wants to take to the catwalk in support of everyone living with faulty BRCA genes.
She said: “I’ve got two daughters and, while my sisters and I have all taken preventative steps to reduce our risks, who knows what advances there will be in the next decade?
“It might sound strange but, when I was going through my treatment, I felt empowered. There I was with no hair, no breasts and soon to be no ovaries, yet I felt as much of a woman as I had before.
“Two years ago, I developed lymphoedema – swelling in my arm – as a result of my surgeries, but I don’t let it get me down.”
I was so elated by Eva’s birth that I didn’t give much thought to the test results