Breast cancer awareness month: Sussex woman with incurable cancer designs charity t-shirt for Asda

Mikki Phipps, 30, was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer in 2020.

As part of breast cancer awareness month she is raising awareness and funds for breast cancer charities through her limited edition designed t-shirt, on sale from George at Asda in support of Tickled Pink breast cancer charity partners Breast Cancer Now and CoppaFeel!

For this year's campaign, Breast Cancer Now asked supporters to share their confidence-boosting slogans or positive affirmations that have helped them through their diagnosis. From the many affirmations sent in, Mikki's phrase ‘Grow through what you go through’ was one of the final three chosen.

Mikki said: “I think everything is an opportunity to develop as a person and life is what you make it. You can take opportunities and choose to see the positive in them and the chance to grow and the chance to take any goodness that you can out of it. Or you can let it affect your life in a negative way. I could waste my time feeling sad about everything that is happening to me and everything that I’m going through, but I'd much rather try and spend my time trying to make memories with people and use the new perspective that it's given me on things.”

Mikki was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in 2018.

Around 15 per cent of breast cancers are classed as triple negative, this form of breast cancer can be more aggressive than other forms of the disease. There are currently limited targeted treatments available for triple negative breast cancer and treatment is mostly limited to a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy.

Although the initial diagnosis was a shock it wasn't entirely unexpected.

She said: “There's a lot of breast cancer in my family. My nan had breast cancer twice at that point and my mum had had her first diagnosis. I carry an altered BRCA gene so I knew there was a possibility I would be diagnosed too, but I didn't quite expect it as young as I was.”

Mikki had chemotherapy followed by a double mastectomy and in June 2019 she was told she had no evidence of disease. Then in early 2020 she found another lump in her breast, at first it was though the cancer had just come back in the same area but it was then found that the cancer had spread to her lungs.

She was diagnosed with secondary, or metastatic, breast cancer, secondary breast cancer is not the same as breast cancer recurrence, it occurs when breast cancer cells spread from the first (primary) cancer in the breast through the lymphatic or blood system to other parts of the body.

While secondary breast cancer can be treated, it cannot be cured.

This diagnosis came at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. Mikki was told to go home and self-isolate with her husband.

She said: “It was quite tough because for a very, very long time, I actually wasn't allowed to see any of my friends and family after my secondary diagnosis, which is obviously a time when you'd call on all of them. I think it was just as difficult for them not being able to be there for me.”

During this time Mikki’s mum was also diagnosed with breast cancer again.

She said: “I think in my case, with my cancer being incurable, it gives you that extra perspective, which I try and use to help keep me focused on not wasting time. That might mean going off on big holidays or it might just mean spending quality time with family at home. For me, it's about sort of having that balance and having a bit of a normal life as well, in between all of the chaos. It's pushed me to do things I wouldn't have done otherwise.”

For Mikki, one of the hardest things she has had to come to terms with is that she will never have children.

“When I was diagnosed with primary breast cancer, we underwent fertility preservation before treatment. They collected my eggs so I could have a family one day. They advise you to wait for a period of time after finishing treatment, to make sure the cancer doesn't come back, before you start a family. And mine came back relatively quickly. With my secondary diagnosis, I am no longer able to start a family. The idea of not having a family has been very, very difficult, especially at my age when I have so many friends who are all having their children. That's been really difficult. And there's certainly been a grief with that.”

Mikki urges everyone to check their bodies regularly and to see a doctor if they're concerned.

For anyone who has recently been diagnosed, she said: “Everyone will experience everything differently. There's no right or wrong way. That's something that I wish I had learned from the outset, because it's common to wonder whether you're being a ‘good cancer patient’, whether you're doing the right thing. It's really bizarre, but it's very common and it's something that I went through. I think it's just about finding your own way and taking each day as it comes. You really do grow through what you go through.”

The t-shirts are in selected Asda stores and George.com

This year’s Tickled Pink collection will be available to buy in Asda stores across the UK and online throughout October, with a minimum of 10 per cent of the price of these products being split 70/30 between Breast Cancer Now (Reg. Charity Nos. 1160558 & SC045584) and CoppaFeel! (Reg. Charity Nos. 1132366 & SC045970) respectively.

For further information visit: www.asda.com/tickled-pink