I work in HR and am quite well known across our organisation as I've been there a long time and have lived and worked in a few countries. I've been very open about my diagnosis since the start, but decided a few months ago to speak openly at our HR conference. There were about 300 attendees at this virtual event, c95% female, and I'd done the maths…..chances are that around 35 of them will endure breast cancer at some point. You heard that right, 35 of the team I work in.
It was that thought that made me, wigless and bald for maximum impact, speak for about 10 minutes live on camera, and tell my story , finding the lump, all the treatment, the awesome support I have had from my team, what it means to live with uncertainty, to be out of control, to let go, to delegate, to be ill and fearful; all the stuff we are all living through. My key message at the end was twofold, basically you only have one life, so live it to the full and secondly “check your boobs ladies”.
Today I was on a video call with a colleague and she was in her car. On asking where she was, I was chuffed to bits to hear her say she'd just come out from having her mammogram!
