Lou’s Story
“I was treated with an intensive treatment protocol involving four rounds of chemotherapy, a full mastectomy to remove the tumours and 13 lymph nodes, a further six months of chemotherapy, five weeks of radiation and hormone therapy.
Fatigue is a common side effect of cancer treatment and it directly impacted the level of physical activity I could undertake. I experienced an overall lack of energy and found it very exhausting to walk very far or stand for long periods of time. This greatly contributed to my steep decline in overall strength and muscle tone.
I had a love for scuba-diving prior to my illness and since completing my treatment find it too exhausting to enjoy. Weighing ten kilograms heavier than my weight prior to treatment, my oncologist recommended I participate in a study being supported by the Wesley Research Institute that would investigate fat gain and muscle loss after breast cancer treatment.
I am eager to get involved in this study and to make a difference to the future of breast cancer treatment. I believe there is a greater purpose to my cancer diagnosis and part of this purpose is to give something back.
By the end of this study I hope to have regained the muscle I lost, enabling me to get back into scuba-diving and experience a greater overall quality of life. I believe medical research is vitally important in order to ease the suffering of other patients and their families, and truly make a difference to their quality of life after cancer treatment.”
