Former PE teacher and sports enthusiast Janet Blackburn was 45 when diagnosed with breast cancer 17 years ago. Today, at 62, she is not only alive and well but still playing hockey and tennis and awaiting the birth of her first grandchild. In Breast Cancer Awareness Month she tells her story to Hilarie Stelfox

NO-ONE walks away from a diagnosis of breast cancer without fearing the worst.

But, as 62-year-old Janet Blackburn discovered nearly two decades ago, the Big C is not necessarily a death sentence. Life-changing perhaps, but not unbeatable.

The former PE teacher from Outlane has agreed to tell her story in Breast Cancer Awareness Month because it is one that gives hope to others.

Janet said: “The reaction at the time you get the diagnosis is ‘why me?’ I think everyone feels that way.

“I considered myself to be very healthy. I wasn’t overweight and I did a lot of sport.”

Such is the random nature of breast cancer that to this day Janet doesn’t know why it chose her.

In fact, it was only a matter of chance that she discovered she had a tumour at all. Although she had been feeling unwell for some time and had endured a series of tests, even heart-monitoring, she never once suspected she had cancer.

It was only when her son Aidan, then aged 10, surprised her while she was taking a bath that she found a lump. “He just burst into the bathroom and I covered myself up with my hands the way you do,” she said. “I could feel a lump just under my right breast.

“Straight away I knew what it was and I had the answer to why I had been feeling so ill.”

“I owe my life to my son.”

Doctors thought Janet had been experiencing some severe peri-menopausal symptoms and she now believes that these extreme hormone changes might have triggered the cancer, but she will never know for sure.

Her surgeon, Richard Sainsbury, told her the cancer had been growing for about six months by the time he operated to remove it.

Because it had not spread to the nearby lymph nodes – 12 were removed at the time of the lumpectomy – Janet had radiotherapy but no chemotherapy.

She said: “I was considered borderline for chemotherapy and took part in a study in which women were randomly selected to have the treatment or not have it and I was one of those who didn’t get it.”

The cancer was considered to be only moderately aggressive but, as a precaution, Janet was given Tamoxifen which lowers oestrogen levels in the body. This is because some tumours are hormone sensitive.

At the time of her treatment Janet was working full-time as the vice principal of a community college in Pontefract. She previously taught at Huddersfield High School, Fartown High and Howden Clough High School in Batley. Her children – she also has a daughter Alex, now 30 – were just 10 and 13.

“One of the first things the breast care nurse discussed with me was how I would tell my children what was happening,” she said. “Her advice was to tell them that I had a lump and I was going to have an operation to see what it was. It was absolutely the right thing to do.”

Janet’s husband, Barry, also a teacher and still working one day at week at Reinwood Junior School, kept the household running and took care of their children.

“I think it must be hard for the partners,” said Janet. “I didn’t really think about it at the time, only afterwards. Barry was very calm and matter-of-fact about things, which was good. He was my rock when I was in despair.”

Barry now believes that being busy and focused on the family kept him going.

“I was trying to be jolly for them,” he said. The couple celebrated their Ruby wedding last year.

Once she recovered from her treatment Janet resumed all her normal activities. “Although the worry never goes away, I enjoy life and I’m determined to,” she said.

She is still a member of the Canalside Terriers hockey team – formerly the Syngenta ‘Synners’ – and plays tennis at Oakfield Tennis Club in Birkby. After retiring at 60 she stepped up her tennis games from once a week to four times a week and started Pilates and Zumba classes.

Janet is also a moderator for teacher training students at Sheffield Hallam University.

Her life is about as full as it can be but she is not too busy to support breast cancer charities.

“I will do anything I can to support the work that will prevent other people from going through what I have,” she said.

Janet has run the Race for Life for Cancer Research UK a total of 11 times, raising more than £2,000 and recently, while on a holiday cruise with Barry, they both took part in a deck race for breast cancer charities. She was one of 20 breast cancer survivors on the ship who joined in.

Surviving breast cancer means that Janet has not only enjoyed watching her children grow into adults but it has enabled her to look forward to becoming an active grandma.

“We are a very close family and it’s family support that got me through it all,” she said. “I feel very fortunate and I’m happy to try to serve as some kind of indication that there is light at the end of what can seem to be a long, dark tunnel.”

Health-conscious Janet examined her breasts regularly for years and yet failed to find the tumour that had been growing for six months.

“Obviously I hadn’t being doing it right,” she said. “It’s really important that women check themselves regularly and properly.”

Janet now self-checks correctly and has regular mammograms. Current NHS guidelines are that women should be ‘breast-aware’ and develop their own routine, checking for any changes.

Breast cancer rarely presents as pain.

A leaflet called Be Breast Aware can be downloaded from www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk

There is also useful information at www.cancerresearchuk.org