An NHS nurse who put off starting her dream job after being given a late-stage cancer diagnosis now says she is "stronger than ever" after undergoing intensive treatment.
Tracey van Alphen-Read went from dancing at a music festival to being told she had a grade three tumour in her breast in a matter of weeks – at around the same time she learned she had been offered a role in palliative care. The Mirror reports that the big-hearted community care nurse wanted to switch to a job looking after people in their final days after enduring endless grief during the Covid pandemic.
But her joy at being offered the role she longed for was overshadowed after being told that a lump she had found in her breast in October 2021 was cancerous. It broke her heart to tell the people offering her a job that she had to put it on hold.
She said: "Everything came crashing down. I just knew my life would never be the same again.
"I'd recently applied to be a palliative care nurse, and ironically here I was facing the same fate as the patients I'd care for. Just weeks before I'd been dancing at a music festival with flowers in my hair, surrounded by people I loved, but now all that seemed to be a different life, one I'd never have back again."
Tracey, of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, had half-expected the news after learning that she carried the BRCA2 cancer gene, inherited through her dad's mum Queenie, who died of ovarian cancer. Her cousin in South Africa also carried the gene – and had to undergo a full mastectomy and ovary removal to stand a good chance of fighting the disease.
The 48-year-old added: "I knew how horrific this could be - like losing what made me a woman." She began six intensive rounds of chemotherapy, lasting 20 weeks; to compound her pain she had to sit alone while husband Lex, 54, sat outside due to Covid restrictions.
"The chemo was beyond horrific, genuinely making me feel like I couldn't carry on," she recalled. "But with Lex and my son Jordan, along with my cousin Ali, I made it through the constant nausea, the sepsis and losing my hair."
At the end of the following January medics confirmed that Tracey was BRCA2-positive and would have to undergo the same treatment as her cousin to stand the best chance of survival. Six weeks later, she had the double mastectomy and reconstruction, before having her ovaries removed in July.
"Given my age, it was out of the question to have other children," says Tracey. "But I wasn't at the age when menopause would be a thing. I wasn't prepared for it.
"So it was hard to take it in. But I knew I just couldn't give up, I couldn't let this cancer win."
Tracey kept looking at photos of herself at the Camper Calling Festival in Warwickshire, where she had danced just weeks before her diagnosis - to remind herself she still had so much to look forward to. She added: "I grieved losing my boobs, feeling and looking twice my age - so I had to look forwards to a new, brighter future."
And last February she found a challenge to boost her determination: an advert for the London Landmarks Half Marathon. Tracey's last 5k run was nearly 10 years ago, but she knew this tough event was her "calling".
She will strap on her running shoes on April 2 – months after she was finally able to ring the bell that signifies the end of her cancer treatment. She hopes to raise £1,000 for Breast Cancer Now, the charity that supported her during the darkest period of her life.
And while Tracey is yet to take up that dream job in palliative care, she is determined to get to a place where she can help others, having "looked death in the face" for herself.
She continued: "Running - showing that my body was working again despite missing what I felt made me a woman - was my way of showing I was different, but not beaten. Lex and Jordan instantly said they'd do it with me, my team by my side.
"It just felt so right. Running is so out of my comfort zone, but I'm loving it. It makes me feel alive. I'm not broken, I'm stronger than ever.
"If I'm dealing with someone at the end of life, I can feel it. I've been where they are. I've looked death in the face, and it was scary.
"It can't not change you. I'm excited to be back at work, with renewed enthusiasm and focus. As a nurse who has supported so many people in dire straits, I do feel blessed to have this second chance."
To support Tracey visit justgiving.com/fundraising/tracey-van-alphen.
How to check for breast cancer
BRCA genes first hit headlines in 2013 when Angelina Jolie had surgery to reduce her breast cancer risk after losing her mum to ovarian cancer. The star found she had a faulty copy of the BRCA1 gene.
The NHS recommends these regular breast cancer checks:
- Feel each breast, armpit, and up to your collarbone for lumps.
- Look at your breasts in the mirror with arms by your side then raised.
Changes to look out for
See a GP if you notice changes...
- In breast size, outline or shape
- In feel of their skin such as puckering or dimpling
- A bumpy area in one breast or armpit
- Nipple discharge
- Any change in nipple position
- A rash, crusting, scaly or itchy skin on or around your nipple
- Any discomfort or pain in a breast
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