It was a small, bluish blemish on my left breast, slightly to the left of centre.

I have cats, and they can sometimes be a bit boisterous, so I thought it was a bruise and waited for it to go away.

Then, bending down in the shower one day to pick up my shampoo, I noticed a dent in the same breast - directly under the bluish blemish, which was still there some weeks later. I’d forgotten all about it, and hadn’t checked to see if it had gone.

I pressed the ‘bruise’ to see if it hurt. It didn’t, but I felt a lump underneath. I had a jolt of fear as I explored the lump with my fingers. It was fairly big - about 3cm long - and it was in the same breast I’d had cancer in 13 years previously.

Even though family and friends tried to reassure me that it was probably just a cyst or something, I knew it was cancer. My previous surgeon examined me, and told me it wasn’t looking good. He then sent me for the usual mammogram, biopsy and ultra sound scan to confirm his diagnosis.

Three years later, I’ve had a mastectomy, chemotherapy and other treatment, and I’m out the other side. Life is no longer ‘normal’ - I’m very tired most of the time and I have frequent stomach upsets, due to the meds I’m on, but I survived.