17 surprising things I wish I’d known

‘It’s reassuring to know that everything that happens to you has happened to someone else …’ Hilary Osborne. Illustration: KIKA KLAT/The Guardian
I thought I knew all about the disease that took my mother when I was nine. But on being diagnosed myself, my eyes were opened to the myths and realities
October is breast cancer awareness month. You are probably aware of breast cancer in some way. I was – for much of my childhood my mum was undergoing treatment for it, and shortly before I turned 10, she died from it. But despite that experience, I was blissfully unaware of many things about breast cancer until I was diagnosed with it last summer. Here are some of the things I know now that I wish I had known then. Continue reading