*43-year-old Natalie Wilson has been diagnosed with breast cancer three times and had 13 reconstructive procedures – with some using tissue from cadavers, notes the Daily Mail.
The paralegal and mother of three of Ajax, Ontario, first found a grape-sized lump in her right breast back in February 2008, and”she thought it was a blocked milk duct.
“I thought it would probably be a blocked milk duct, as I was finishing breastfeeding my son,” Natalie said. But, after her husband Nigel urged her to get it checked out, she was diagnosed with breast cancer – opting for a double mastectomy even though she worried she would feel “less of a woman.”
“I was devastated to lose both my breasts,” Natalie said. “Then, when I’d just started to come to terms with everything this year, I was told I had cancer for the third time.”
She was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a type of non-invasive breast cancer, that starts inside the milk ducts. Doctors also found invasive cancer cells.
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“I felt numb. I didn’t expect to hear those results,” she said. “The specialist suggested I had an MRI, which showed some suspicious areas on my breast. I was given the option of either having another lumpectomy with subsequent radiotherapy or a single subcutaneous mastectomy, whereby the nipple is preserved.”
She continued: “I was 35, and didn’t want to worry about this for the rest of my life, so I opted for a double mastectomy, with the removal of the left breast as a precaution.”
“’My husband reassured me it didn’t change my beauty, but I was devastated when I looked in the mirror, as I was so young.”
In 2009, Wilson had her first reconstructive surgery which involved inserting a temporary inflatable breast implant but her body kept rejecting the tissue expander.
“My mind never said stop, because I thought I needed my breasts to look like a woman again,” she explained. Over the next six years she would undergo various procedures until 2013, when she tried a different procedure – having the first of three rounds of reconstructive surgery involving a grafting process, using human cadaver tissue and body fat from her buttocks and inner thigh. After the final round in 2016, she’d had a total of 13 reconstructive procedures.
Wilson was finally given the all-clear in September, and she’s now launching an online forum, where women can find support and sharing their inspiring stories.
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