The Ride of My Life
by Jane Gillespie
I hate roller-coasters. They give you whiplash and make you sick. But I was forced to board a metaphorical one at the age of 51, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 1994, after my first ever routine mammogram. After a lumpectomy followed by a total mastectomy, I began six months of chemotherapy. No one ever told me that living through cancer and its treatment is a traumatising experience and that I would probably go on the wildest emotional ride of my life.
