CLARE YOUNG
Claire is a 42 year old mother of 3 from AMPTHILL, Bedfordshire who was diagnosed with stage 3 breast
cancer December 2021, and raised over £100k in just 12 weeks for treatment not available in the UK. And all
while she was having chemotherapy…
My Story
On 8 th December 2021 I was given the devastating news that I had breast cancer. It’s a day I will never forget, and
one that has changed my life forever.
Before I’d had the chance to come to terms with the news I then found out that I have an inherited cancer gene
mutation (ATM) which increased my chances of having breast cancer.
In February 2022 I had a double mastectomy with reconstruction and all the lymph nodes on my left side were
removed. I then started 6 months of chemotherapy.
In order to kill any cancer cells left in my chest area and to reduce the risk of reoccurrence the next stage of treatment
would normally have been radiotherapy but I was born with a completely unrelated chest condition called pectus
excavatum, meaning the radiotherapy would have caused damage to my heart & lungs due to the positioning of my
breast bone.
For the reasons above conventional radiotherapy was not advised and I needed to have a treatment called Proton
Beam Therapy. This is a form of radiotherapy but it is much more targeted and precise. The challenge is that it is not
offered under the NHS in England for breast cancer and there are no private centres in the UK that provide this
specialist treatment. The only option I had was to go outside of the UK. The cost of this and all associated costs
were in excess of £100k.
My family, friends and community came together to arrange fundraising events in the coming months and in just 12
weeks we raised the amount needed for me to have my treatment. In the first week through gofundme donations
alone we raised £28k as a result of our social media campaign. This led to a huge response from my community and
before I knew it people were arranging bake sales, golf days, parties, raffles and many more events to ensure I could
get the money for my treatment.
On 5 th September 2022, leaving my family behind, I travelled to India for almost 6 weeks to be treated at The Apollo
Proton Cancer Centre in Chennai. I had 25 fractions of Proton Beam Therapy, met the most wonderful people in the
process and finally returned home on 16 th October 2022.
I am now back at work full time and enjoying this precious life that I have been gifted, not without the fear of my breast
cancer re-occurring but certainly much more fulfilled than I’ve ever been.
Claire xx
Instagram: @clairesboobbattle
Facebook: Clairesboobbattle
Twitter: @boobbattle
