People and Places

In 1988 the world’s first national breast screening programme for women over 50 was set up in England.

It was Dianne’s first experience of breast screening and she had been told that it was quite normal for some first timers to be sent a recall letter.

So when she did receive a letter, she was quite blasé about being recalled. Dianne then had another mammogram and a biopsy, but it was not until the doctor said to her, “We can't rule out cancer at this stage”, that it hit home.

“The screening didn’t worry me, as she always checked herself regularly,” explains Dianne.
“There was no sign, no lump to feel. If I hadn’t gone to the screening, the problem wouldn’t have been picked up. I wouldn’t have known any different until a lump was present.”

Dianne waited a very long and difficult 10 days for the biopsy results and was finally diagnosed with cancer. She had the tumour removed and fortunately responded well to drugs and intense radiotherapy.

“Radiotherapy is nothing to be scared of at all,” says Dianne. “There is nothing that I’ve gone through that hurts or to be scared of.”

“The scariest thing is the word cancer. It doesn’t need to be these days. The prognosis is very good with the early diagnosis. The biggest thing I’ve found with radiotherapy is you have to travel to the hospital every day for a month. It does make you a little bit tired and wear you down, so all that travelling on top of it is the biggest pain.”

Dianne is now in remission and her prospects are excellent because of the early diagnosis, but she will be on drugs for the next five years.

"I felt I’d been very privileged in the fact that I’d been let off, if you like. I’ve escaped very easily with what’s happened and I wanted to put something back."

In order to give something back, Dianne will be running in this year's Race for Life on 29th June at Sewerby Hall. She will be joined by her daughter, granddaughter and 6,000 other women on the day that will be running, walking or jogging for Cancer Research UK.

She's running the race because she realises how lucky she is to have been diagnosed early and she has made friends with other women in the course of her treatment who haven't been so lucky.

Dianne's advice on breast screening is simple, "Do it. Do it. To not do it, to me, just does not make sense."

"Even if you cannot feel a lump or you feel nothing is wrong. If it’s detected early enough, the outcome is very good. It’s no good burying your head in the sand. It’s by far better to find it there and to have it treated, than to just wait and wait and wait. I dread to think what the consequences would be are if you do wait."

"The screening is there, it’s available, do it."

If you'd like to sign up for a Race for Life or Run for Moore event that's taking place near you, you can use one of the links below: