The kindness of strangers: as I was sobbing in a rack of bras, a grandmotherly shop assistant soothed me

‘She took both of my hands, let me sob a bit and then told me: “I know it doesn’t feel like it now, but it will all be OK eventually.”’ Composite: Victoria Hart/Getty Images

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019 and immediately had to have a single mastectomy. Told by the doctors I needed to wear very soft bras for a while, two months after the surgery I went to my local department store to find something suitable.

I was hobbling around and feeling really awful about myself – sore, sad and scarred, and as though I’d never look attractive again. Somewhere deep in the racks of bras I became so overwhelmed by it all that I just broke down and started sobbing.