Amanda Featherstone

Please tell us a bit about yourself such as about your career, your family?
I am married to my husband Chris and we have two children, Isabelle who is 13 and Hannah who is 8. I work within financial services – a small company that deals with mortgages.

I’m very interested in nutrition and I’m looking into doing a course in nutrition soon.  I’m also keen on doing moderate exercise through yoga, swimming and running, which helps me keep calm and helps me relax. 

Has this interest in health and fitness come out of your own experience of breast cancer?
Yes definitely, without a doubt.  It makes you much more aware and with the medication that I’m on I feel that diet plays a crucial part in improving your well-being and general health.

Would you mind telling us a bit about your breast cancer?
I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2003. I remember because it was around the time of my little girl Hannah’s second birthday. She was the one who spotted the pea-sized lump on my left breast; she put her finger right on a lump and she said ‘what’s that?’ I put my finger where hers was and I felt it.

Did you know about the signs and symptoms of breast cancer prior to you feeling the lump?
Funnily enough I didn’t know anybody who had breast cancer at the time (of course I know quite a few now) but I had awareness from bits and pieces that I’d picked up in surgeries, that sort of thing. 

Straight away the lump felt hard and I realised this wasn’t normal – my instincts told me that. I made an appointment straight away to see my GP – typically, I made the discovery on a Saturday so I had all weekend to think about it. 

How quickly did you then go to have a mammogram?
I managed to get appointment that week – it was supposed to be two weeks from initial diagnosis but I was lucky to get an appointment through a cancellation. I had an ultrasound and mammogram.

I then had a biopsy followed by a lumpectomy  – and after that everything happened so quickly. I also had all the nodes taken away to make sure the cancer hadn’t spread. Then I got the results back and they said it hadn’t spread, which was fantastic news.

I began taking my course of tamoxifen and three months later I was in the bath, I said to my then fiancée Chris that I felt another lump at the opposite side of my left breast.

Unfortunately it was confirmed as another cancerous lump and a mastectomy was recommended. So I was booked in to have the operation in mid-may.  I thought after the first lumpectomy that I was home and dry, so the mastectomy was a bit of nasty shock.

I  was introduced to a woman, through a mutual friend, who also had a mastectomy a couple of years before and who’d had the most amazing reconstruction. So I got chatting to her, found out who her surgeon was and she said she’d come along with me and support me. A lot of people worry about the physical aspect of your surgery but it’s what goes on in your head that is the really difficult thing.

I was very happy with the reconstruction work and they said I’d still have to carry on with the tamoxifen at this stage. So that was all fine, I carried on as normal – I even did a few runs, the Great South Run being one. Then a year and a half later, in November 04 I found another lump again on the left breast, after a further two operations, I got full clearance and was given the drug Zoladex (I have now been taking for 5 years).

What made you decide that you wanted to model post-surgery lingerie?
I I thought this would be something really positive to do. I’ve had a few tricky experiences myself of trying to find bras after my surgery – it’s very embarrassing to start with as you go into changing rooms and occasionally some staff may not be that knowledgeable about the subject. I thought how nice it would be for a woman to be modelling the range who has experienced breast cancer herself. So a woman who has had surgery can go out shopping for a bra and feel more confident and not feel embarrassed or marginalised.

Had you ever modelled before?
I only did a small bit when I was at sixth form but not since then.

Had you seen the M&S post-surgery lingerie range prior to the shoot?
I had seen it as I had bought a couple of things. I thought the bras were very nice, well made – for example there wasn’t stitching where you didn’t want stitching, there were parts to put extra prosthesis in if necessary, also stretchy tops you could wear just after surgery .

Did you enjoy your first day as a model?  What did you have to do?
I really enjoyed it. I only had to model one bra, a fairly plain white one. The organisers knew what kind of image they wanted and what kind of position I had to be in. After about an hour I did relax a bit more - in the first hour I was a little bit embarrassed but in the end I was really glad I did it.

I feel that even if I’ve helped just one woman out there to regain a bit of self- confidence or if it’s made their shopping experience more comfortable then I’m happy. Also if I have inspired women to raise money or fundraise then that’s all for the better.

Mentally the modelling helped me deal with the cancer – this year I’ll be five years clear.

How did your family/friends help you through your diagnosis and treatment?
They have been amazing. Chris was amazing, he never moaned, he got on with everything. And now we’re married, so maybe it brought us even closer together. Also my network of friends provided amazing support – they treated me normally when they saw me and this made me feel more relaxed. Making me feel like a normal person was a hugely important factor in how I managed the psychological difficulties of my breast cancer.

My breast cancer put everything into perspective - I don’t worry about the little problems in life anymore (such as housework), they don’t get me as stressed as they used to. I feel there are bigger things to think about which are more important.