My brilliant cancer care saved me - and may save my family for generations!

A Margate grandmother has thanked the team who cared for her after being diagnosed with breast cancer and the BRCA 2 variant.

Vyckie Abbott, 49, visited her GP as soon as she noticed a lump in her right breast in early 2022. She was referred to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital and had a biopsy on Valentine’s Day.

She said: ‘Though that wasn’t the day I was diagnosed, that was the day I knew I had cancer. I could just tell.

‘Two weeks later, I walked into a room at the hospital to be met with a consultant and Kerry, a cancer clinical nurse specialist. That woman is an angel.

‘After being told I had breast cancer, she took me and my partner of 20 years to another room and he broke down. She reassured us both, answered all our questions and explained what the treatment plan would look like.’

Despite having lost a cousin and her paternal grandmother to breast cancer and another close relative being treated for the disease, Vyckie had not considered her family history relevant to her own health until her diagnosis.

‘My cousin Heidi had died from breast cancer aged just 37, so I was terrified. But Kerry pulled me back from the precipice of being overly anxious. She was almost like a counsellor. No one can predict the future, and she didn’t give us false hope, but she was as positive as she could be.

‘She was also the first one who suggested genetic testing.’

Vyckie went on to have a single mastectomy and a lymph node dissection when it was discovered her cancer had spread, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

She said: ‘It was hard physically and mentally. I had always been fit and active, now I would look in the mirror and it was hard. I was bald, had one boob and had gained weight due to the steroids. It was a really hard time. It didn’t feel like I was what a woman should be.

‘Seeing your family’s faces after each round seeing you so sick and there was nothing they could do to help, that was harder than the chemo.

‘But the cancer clinical nurse specialist was always there. I could call and she’d call right back. Even when I pretended I was fine, she could tell when I wasn’t.'

Vyckie underwent her chemotherapy in a series of personalised t-shirts, completing her treatment in a Friends-themed t-shirt holding a picture of her cousin Heidi. 

She said: ‘Kerry even took time out to come down when I rang the bell at the end of my chemo. That meant so much to me and brought tears to my eyes.’

Following treatment, Vyckie was seen by Suzannah, another cancer clinical nurse specialist with East Kent Hospitals, who discussed her family history and supported her while she was diagnosed with the BRCA 2 gene variant. The variant meant Vyckie was at an increased risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

Vyckie said: ‘Being told I had the gene meant everything made sense. I suddenly knew why I had got cancer.  Now I could do something about it. I had my other breast removed and had a hysterectomy. I have since had a reconstruction and am back to living my life.

‘Knowing what we’re dealing with means so much to me and my family. I honestly don’t think I would have got through it without Kerry and Suzannah. These are more than just jobs. These people are moving mountains.’