Victoria Knowles looked down along the white clinical corridor. The room was eerily quiet. Some women sat alone beneath the bright fluorescent lights, others were there with partners.
The mum was awaiting news from her breast screening when she felt the air change. She could see her X-ray results through the crack of an open door, the black and white images lit up on a screen.
There were whispers between one doctor and the medic who had just performed her mammogram scan. As a deep sense of dread began to take over her body, another door opened nearby.
Seconds later, Victoria knew she had breast cancer. “Mrs Knowles?” a doctor said. “Would you mind if we took another picture?”
READ MORE: Mum-of-three told she was 'too young' for devastating diagnosis given just months to live
“I knew they must have seen something,” Victoria, from Wigan, told the Manchester Evening News. “They didn’t say anything.
“Then when I went into the ultrasound room, the guy doing that didn’t say anything. I just lay there and sobbed because I just knew.”
Victoria learned the results of her second scan four days later. She was at home with her husband Edward and seven-year-old son Thomas when she received a phone call at around 7.30pm on January 25, 2022.
The 46-year-old was inside her bedroom when she was given the devastating diagnosis. Once the phone call was over, she opened the door to find Edward and little Thomas waiting outside.
Edward asked her if everything was OK. There was no reply. He hesitated before asking her another question, although this time he knew the answer. “It’s cancer?” he mouthed silently, not wanting to scare Thomas.
Victoria can recall feeling completely overwhelmed following the news. “It’s the most incomprehensible thing to be told you have cancer,” she continued. “You genuinely never ever think it will be you even though cancer is so common. I was thinking, ‘No, no, no, this cannot be happening to me because I won’t be able to handle this’.
“It honestly went from 0 to 100 in such a short space of time because I went in there thinking it would be nothing. There was no history of breast cancer in my family and I genuinely thought it was just going to be a cyst.
“I hugged Edward and my son and told them I was going to be the person who beats this. I decided there and then.
Victoria, who now lives in London, was relaxing at home with her son when she felt a “strange and sudden” twinge in her left breast.
Aged 45 at the time, she immediately went to touch the area and felt what appeared to be a small cyst on her ribcage near the bra line.
Concerned about the discovery, Victoria felt the same area the next day and could no longer locate the lump. But a week later, the sinister twinging sensation returned.
“That was the moment where I felt a bit teary and sad,” Victoria continued. “It’s not necessarily because you think it’s something, but because you know you have to put your big girl pants on and go and get it checked out.”
Following her diagnosis, Victoria, who works as a personal assistant, endured 16 rounds of chemotherapy over a two-month period to treat the cancer.
Thankfully, by the time her lumpectomy surgery rolled around the following September – to remove any remaining cancer – the chemotherapy had already wiped it all out. Despite needing to take medication for the next five years, Victoria is now cancer free.
"I lost all my hair and the first four chemotherapy treatments were utterly grim and vile,” she continued. “I think I coped with that really well. I think I’ve coped really well throughout the treatment because I radically changed my life; I stopped drinking alcohol and [developed a] healthier lifestyle.”
During one chemotherapy round, Victoria can recall hearing another patient struggling and in tears. The pair got chatting and Victoria was able to share her best advice on how to get through the grim treatment.
“I realised I had a strong desire to help people with cancer,” she added. “I started volunteering with cancer charities then wrote a book.”
Victoria released her book – It's Breast Cancer: Three Little Words That Change Your Life – last month. It shares her journey from the first doctor’s visit to the end of her treatment and beyond, aiming to be a companion to anyone at the start of their breast cancer journey.
With the permission of the original founder of The Wig Bank, a wig service for women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment or alopecia, Victoria started The Wig Bank London. Women who are finished with treatment donate their wigs which are then sold on at affordable prices to those who cannot afford them.
“I just want to give back to ladies so they’re able to have something nice to wear,” Victoria added. “If you want [a wig] to look semi-decent, you have to spend the money. I thought, ‘What an awesome idea’.”
Not only has battling cancer changed her physically, Victoria says having the illness has altered every aspect of her life.
“It has changed me immensely,” she added. “Spiritually as well as physically. And by physically I mean I'm probably healthier now than I’ve ever been.
“I no longer drink alcohol and my diet is better than ever. I'm no longer afraid to try new things or go outside of my comfort zone because having had a cancer diagnosis was a wake up call for me – that I should really live life and enjoy it warts and all because we really are only here for a short time.”
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