Why life isn’t all Ab Fab when patients receive cancer all-clear

This week, Jennifer Saunders did just that. The comedian said that following six months of chemotherapy she was hit with depression.

“I found the Tamoxifen (the drug which she will be on for five years) the hardest thing,” she told the Radio Times. “It’s like suddenly becoming older. You feel fagged out, you lose your motor and it makes you feel depressed. Normally I have the energy to get up, get ready and do something, but I wasn’t starting my days until maybe 11 or 11.30am, even thought I was awake.”

Thanks to her friendship with psychologist Tanya Byron, the Ab Fab star did seek help and those who work with breast cancer survivors hope her admission will help puncture the idea that normal life begins again at remission.

“Depression is incredibly common,” says Debra Horsman, clinical nurse specialist at The Haven, a breast cancer support centre based in Leeds. “Many people think being told you are in remission from breast cancer should be a cause for celebration, but it isn’t as simple as that.

“For lots of women who leave treatment, the shadow of the cancer stays with them forever. Every night when they get undressed the scars are there to remind them what they went through and if they get an itch in their big toe they start to wonder whether the cancer has come back. Often they feel unable to talk to their friends and family, partly because they don’t want to worry them over what might turn out to be nothing, but also they think they have put them through enough already. Cancer causes incredible feelings of guilt.”

The Haven opened its Leeds branch three years ago to help those diagnosed with breast cancer deal with the physical and emotional side effects of the disease.

“Our medical system is so slick that it can be just 18 months from diagnosis to treatment and remission,” says Debra. “It sounds an odd thing to say, but the doctors and nurses they see each week during treatment almost become a comfort blanket. When they are no longer there, they feel they have been cut adrift.

“There is also the issue of body image. For young women being sent into early menopause as a result of treatment is an incredibly difficult thing to deal and for older women who have to go through it again it really is no easier.

“Women aren’t very good at putting themselves first. Often they spend most of their time looking after others and when they are diagnosed with breast cancer and aren’t able to do all the things they did before many feel like they have lost their identity.

“That loss of self-confidence can take a long time to come back and I am so glad that someone like Jennifer Saunders has felt able to speak out about her experiences as it will help people realise they are not alone.”

The Haven’s services are available to anyone regardless of where they live or when they were diagnosed and it offers everything from counselling to acupuncture.

“I have seen women who were diagnosed 20 years ago, but haven’t slept probably since,” adds Debra. “The truth is that we live in a culture which doesn’t value convalescence. We rush to get back to normal and to go back to work, but in doing so we often store up problems for the future. Time can’t heal everything, but it can help people adjust to what has happened to them.”

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