After her mother against cancer, a young woman in the UK decided to have a double mastectomy

News24xx.com -  Esther Taylor, a 24-year-old woman has become one of the youngest people in the UK to have a double mastectomy after her mother’s also gruelling battle against cancer.
 

Beside Taylor, Hannah Fitzpatrick, from Burton is the youngest in Britain to have a double mastectomy. At the age of 19, Hannah chose the preventative operation after two of her cousins were diagnosed with breast cancer in their 20s. Genetic screening had revealed that she carried the BRCA2 gene, which meant she had an 85% chance of developing the condition. 

And for Esther, she made the difficult decision to undergo surgery after nine of her relatives were diagnosed with cancer. And sadly, she saw their losing their fight.

Esther, now 25, was offered support from Liberty X pop star Michelle Heaton who also underwent the procedure. She said her decision was driven after watching aunties, uncles and her mum,  Patsy Fenning fight the disease.

Before, on March 2, she was told that she had a gene mutation which meant she was also at high risk to developing breast and ovarian cancer. Then she underwent the nine-hour procedure to remove both of her breasts.

The woman who work as a paediatric nurse from Preston, Lancashire, said, "It was a difficult decision, it is scary, it is painful, it is risky and it is emotional, but ultimately I brave, it is beautiful. A lot of people I have told think I’m too young to make this sort of decision, but if you knew you were living with a high risk of developing breast cancer and you had a choice to significantly reduce the risk, then why wouldn’t you?"

Esther's mum comes from a big family, and she have sadly lost from her many members of family because cancer and the majority of aunts and uncles that are still alive have suffered cancer too.

Having had to watch and endure her own mum Patsy’s suffering when she was just eight years old, Esther, says the Cancer word was never far from her mind. 

She said, "I think at that point I realised it was a complete injustice to all my family members dying if I didn’t do something about it. "

Prior to her operation, she had a ‘Bye Bye Boob’ party with colleagues from Royal Blackburn Hospital at a friend’s house. 

Esther says she will have consider a full hysterectomy at some point as well but says she is not yet in a place to make that decision. 

 

 

 

 

 

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