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Dubai: Anne Butler, an attractive 54-year-old mother of two, turned on the radio one morning and heard a message that saved her life and her family untold heartache: it was an advertisement by a private hospital offering mammograms at a reduced price.
"It must have been my guardian angel who made me turn on the radio, because I usually never do," she told Gulf News.
Anne went for the mammogram and thought little of it. A few days later, she received a phone call telling her something had been detected. "They said I should find a breast surgeon."
After consulting Dr Houriya Kazim, specialist breast surgeon with Well Woman Clinic, she was told she had Stage II breast cancer. "I was surprised at the diagnosis. It was frightening and yet I felt well. You don't know what had been going on inside - it's like being stalked," Anne said. She went to England and had two surgeries to remove the tumour in her right breast. Then she underwent radiation therapy but did not need chemo-therapy.
After her experience, Anne said she has a new appreciation of life. And she has found a novel way of incorporating her new status as a breast cancer survivor into her life: she competes in the annual Dragon Boat Competition in Malaysia with her Tickled Pink team, all breast cancer survivors.
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