So hard to be brave and a good mother

ANTONIA Skinner sought help immediately when she suffered breast pain while expecting her second child.

Her sister was having treatment for breast cancer and

Antonia, 41, carried the same BRCA2 gene that makes women vulnerable to cancer.

Antonia, of Crawley,

West Sussex, said: “If you feel something isn’t right, discuss it with someone and don’t just accept the response that ‘it’s pregnancy related’.”

She also tells how Mummy’s Star helped her, adding: “Emilia arrived on June 2, 2020, and barely a week later I had a bilateral mastectomy. Two weeks after that, I was having chemo. I felt so much guilt. I saw all the mums with their babies and thought Emilia has been so unlucky getting me.

“I remember texting Mummy’s Star in a car park and getting it all off my chest. People would say I was strong. The energy it consumed to be brave and a good mum was so hard.”