For my SISTERS

After battling breast cancer twice and losing two sisters to the disease, Caroline Kennedy Alexander, 54, is determined to make survivors feel beautiful

- ASHLEIGH PAGE

Breast cancer is something I’m unfortunately very familiar with. I know all too well how heartbreaking it is to lose a loved one to the terrible disease and also how devastating it is to be diagnosed with it, too.

In 2004, breast cancer sent a wrecking ball through my family’s life, with both my sisters, Rose and Mary, being diagnosed. Tragically, Rose died that same year.

Then, in March 2012, after a routine mammogram, I was called back to the hospital for a biopsy. My husband even dropped me off outside without coming in, because we never thought in a million years I had breast cancer. But during the checks for the biopsy the surgeon asked if I’d consider a mastectomy. Breast cancer hadn’t even been confirmed but I knew my mammogram must have looked serious.

My mind raced. I had two children at home – a daughter, then 14, and an 11-year-old son –and the thought of leaving them broke my heart.

As soon as I got back from the hospital, I loaded the kids into my car and made the drive from my home in Edinburgh to where I grew up in Ireland so I could be with my family, while I waited for the results.

Just three days later, the hospital called. I had breast cancer. It seemed catastrophically unfair, a statistical impossibility. Neither me nor my sisters carried the BRCA1 gene, linked to breast cancer, yet all three of us had somehow been afflicted. 

I was given the option for a complete mastectomy but I couldn’t fathom the idea of losing my breasts – I was only 43. To me, they symbolised my femininity, my sexuality – I wasn’t ready to give up those things.