Michelle and Gill’s Story

Michelle.

In August 2024 I found by accident a lump in my left breast. At first we both thought that maybe this could be fatty tissue…..but I kinda knew I was just kidding myself.

I booked an appointment with the doctor who referred me to the hospital for tests.

I arrived at the local hospital and after an examination by the doctor I was told I had nothing to worry about as it was just a cyst!

Ater having a mammogram, scan and finally a very painful biopsy, I sat in front of the doctor for them now to say the lump was abnormal. I was still under the impression it was a cyst.
Another hospital weeks later I was told that I had HERR 2 breast cancer. HERR 2 is fed off protein and is a cancer that is unpredictable !

The treatment would be chemotherapy via intravenous drip for 6 months, followed by an operation and then 10 sessions of radiotherapy.

I honestly don’t know what I would have done without Gill who lived through this horrendous time with me. We desperately wanted to keep things as normal as possible at home for our 2 boys.

I lost my hair, eyelashes and eyebrows and piled the weight on with the drugs they were pumping into me.

I am still having Herceptin which is an anti cancer drug which I had via injection every three weeks. It makes me horrendously tired with mood swings. I also have the side effects of a horrific cough that keeps me awake and hives on my skin.

However hard the last two years have been for us, I’ve survived which was so important. Our family functions only with 4 of us not 3.

Gills story

After Michelle was given the all clear to go away on holiday we thought as a family it would be good for the soul for us all to enjoy ourselves and forget the word Cancer for a while .

However this was not to be, even though Michelle is still having treatment I had a seizure on the 16th May 2025.

I was referred to the neurologist and saw a top surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth hospital who ran lots of tests. We were not expecting the news we received.

The surgeon showed us the scan and what we saw horrified us both. It was a tumour on the brain that had been growing for sometime. The surgeon gave us the options that I would either have an operation that would save my life OR not have an operation that would see me dead by Christmas.

There was no question of what I would have as the boys need us both in their life. I had the operation and was in theatre for 4 and a half hours. I came round on the ward and quickly realised I couldn’t speak or move my right hand side.

I fought with everything I had to get some speech back and movement on my right hand side. No one could believe how much progress I was making.

Michelle was up the hospital everyday till late even though she was still having treatment. We just as a couple don’t function without each other.

I’ve had 30 rounds of radiotherapy that has made me lose my hair.
Next step is 9 months of chemotherapy and then more scans as even though they took a whopping 6cm by 5 cm tumour from my brain they had to leave 1 cm in there as it’s sat on the cortex part of my brain. We are praying with everything that the radio and chemo works its magic so that I’m here for a long time yet.

Thank you to everyone involved at Bens foundation for this opportunity for us all to get away