A mum who survived a 'grim' cancer diagnosis had a message for men and women after she was announced as a winner of our Local Heroes competition.
Estelle Maher, 51, has been driven by a cancer diagnosis that could've meant the end of her life, to support those who are going through similar. In 2019 the mum-of-two from Prenton found a lump, before "further investigations" discovered multiple lumps on her breast.
Now, years after getting the all-clear and being told she was cancer-free, Estelle has a message for both men and women - "get checked." She might not have had cancer since the end of 2019, but Estelle still feels the after-effects of the treatment and is still on medication related to the disease.
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Estelle is one of the winners of our Local Heroes competition with Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill and Hotel Indigo after being nominated by her friend Bob Stone, who said she "always thinks of others and not herself," and referenced her fundraising for Clatterbridge and Cancer Research as well as her work raising awareness and supporting those going through similar diagnoses.
Mum-of-two, Estelle, who won a traditional afternoon tea for four people at the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill, said: "I suppose having breast cancer, it is a grim diagnosis. I've got experience knowing people who didn't make it."
Estelle said she found that after her diagnosis, she "got a strong sense to use my voice" to spread awareness about breast cancer.
She said: "In 2019, through self checking I found a lump and through further investigation I discovered multiple tumours on the breast. I'm okay now.
"People are surprised that as once people have finished their treatment then they're not all better now. Breast cancer is a legacy condition and people don't know the effects from things like treatment continue long after it's gone.
"My message is that don't presume that when people have had their chemo or their therapy that they're all better. But the main thing for me is to tell people to get checked.
"I do have a full-time job believe it or not. But my aim in life is to get women and men to get checked."
Alongside her day job as head of a publishers, Estelle works to raise awareness of breast cancer and urges people, whatever gender, whatever age, to check themselves, through her fiction writing and most recently a podcast called Get It Off Your Chest, about what she calls the funny side of breast cancer experienced by sufferers, who are invited on to share their stories.
Estelle said she plans to take Bob Stone and his wife along with her for the afternoon tea as a thank you.
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