Last updated at 11:42, Thursday, 15 November 2012

LIKE Sharon Osbourne, Barrow mum, Leanne Johnson, has had a double mastectomy to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer. She tells CLAIRE CRISP why she feels ‘lucky’ to have had the drastic surgery

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FORMER X Factor judge, Sharon Osbourne, revealed last week she had undergone a double mastectomy after discovering she was carrying a gene that increased the risk of her developing breast cancer.

“When I heard, I knew exactly how she must feel,” says 33-year-old Leanne Johnson, a mum-of-four from Dalkeith Street in Barrow, who also elected to have her own healthy breasts removed last year, after being diagnosed with the BRCA1 gene (which gives a much increased risk of cancer) four years ago.

While Leanne looked fit and healthy on the outside, she was horrified to discover that on the inside she was carrying a health timebomb.

The young mum made the decision to have a double mastectomy and full hysterectomy because she wanted to do everything possible to ensure she would see her children, Tyler, 11, Chloe, nine, Nathan, eight, and Millie, four, grow up.

She says: “It is a difficult decision to make but it depends how much you want to be around for your children and how much your family means to you.”

The courageous young mum knows only-too-well how hard it is for a child to lose their mother.

Her own mum Jeanette Park died 14 years ago of ovarian cancer – she was just 37.

It was because of her mum’s death that Leanne and many of her female relatives had the test which revealed some of them were carriers of the faulty BRCA1 gene.

“Sometimes I sit and look at my kids and I think I am now only a few years younger than my mum when she died.

“It must’ve been so hard for her but she was so brave and never cried in front of us and always put her kids first.

“I want to watch my kids grow up. Mum never got to meet any of her nine grandchildren,” she says.

At least four generations of Leanne’s family have experienced ovarian or breast cancer and she didn’t want to become the next statistic. She says: “Mum had ovarian cancer and died when she was 37, all my nana’s sisters died very young of ovarian or breast cancer and my nana’s own mother died of cancer at just 32.”

After Leanne was tested, two of her three sisters Claire Park, 31, and Carol Anne, 30, also both underwent the gene test and were given the all clear.

Her youngest sister, Michelle Park, 28, has not been tested yet but has had counselling to prepare for it and intends to have the test before she’s 30.

Her sister Claire, who has two daughters aged 11 and two, says: “My results were clear. I found out about a week after Leanne was diagnosed but I couldn’t even feel relieved because of what she was going through.”

The sisters’ maternal aunt Yvonne Quail, 52, who also had the test, agrees: “I was tested after my sister Jeanette was diagnosed with ovarian cancer; I was about 35 at the time.

“I was told I was clear but I still cried for about three months because of what Jeanette was suffering through. I felt incredibly guilty – I used to think ‘why me and not her?’.

“But these days I can appreciate the fact that I haven’t got the gene and can’t pass it on to my children and grandchildren.”

Leanne’s husband Stuart, 32, has been totally supportive of his wife’s decision throughout, and says: “I told her not to even bother worrying about what I think and that she had to do what was best for her and the children.”

His wife adds: “I always thought I wouldn’t be able to show my body to Stuart after the op but actually I found it was surprisingly easy and, in fact, I am more confident now about my body than before.

“And I have never hidden anything from the kids, they have seen my chest since the op and I’ve explained the reasons why I needed the operation.”

Brave Leanne also underwent a full hysterectomy four years ago – a decision made a little easier by the fact she already had four children and wasn’t planning any more.

She had her double mastectomy last October at Christie Hospital in Manchester. She recalls: “I was quite nervous, as you would be going down for any operation, but I always knew in my own mind that it is what I wanted to do. I never doubted it and my family have been totally supportive.”

However Leanne, who had tissue expanders put in place at the time of her bi-lateral mastectomy to prepare for breast implants, faces one more final operation.

She says: “After I was released from hospital I had to go back for injections to fill the expanders and I was meant to have my implants this May but I was going on holiday to see my dad in America and I wasn’t allowed to fly so soon after the op, so I had to put it off.

“It was rescheduled for October 4 but I got flu the day before the op and had to cancel again, so now I am on the waiting list again.”

While Leanne admits the last few years has been an ‘emotional rollercoaster’, she has no regrets at all about having the surgery done.

Since having her hysterectomy she says she is completely safe from ovarian cancer and has massively reduced the risk of breast cancer: “Before the op I had around an 85 per cent chance of developing cancer but now I only have a normal risk of developing breast cancer.”

While others may feel unlucky to have inherited the BRCA1 gene, Leanne can already look on the positive side: “I’m kind of glad I know about it because it means I can look after my children and make sure they’re okay in the future and can have the test if they want it.

“We didn’t find out about the gene and the test that was available until after mum died. If mum had known about the gene, then she might be here now.”

Her aunt Yvonne adds: “I don’t think we are an unlucky family; we had the opportunity to be screened and have the op. If Jeanette hadn’t died then that might not have happened, it is her legacy to us.”

“Mum didn’t die in vain,” finishes Leanne.

l See next week’s Love Life for an interview with a young woman from Barrow who is facing the same harrowing decision that Leanne made

First published at 16:25, Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk