'I sat GCSE exam and hours later surgeons cut out a tumour'

AGED 16, Amanda Lloyd-Jones had a nonmalignant lump removed her right breast.

- ABBIE WIGHTWICK

She sat her GCSE geography in the morning and was in surgery in the afternoon.

Two decades on, she discovered a non-related, but cancerous, lump on the same breast, partly because her early experience had taught her to be breast aware and self-check.

Now cancer-free for 10 years after surgeries and chemotherapy the teacher from Cardiff is using her experience to raise awareness among young people and their families.

Mother-of-two Amanda, who is a Year Five teacher at Howell's School in Cardiff, felt the lump on her breast while she was putting on suncream during a holiday in summer 2014.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months later in December 2014, aged 37.

After enduring two lumpectomies, an axillary lymph node clearance, six rounds of chemotherapy, 15 rounds of radiotherapy and 10 years of hormone therapy, Amanda was declared cancer free last summer and says she’s determined to use her experience to make a difference and potentially save lives.

As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, she has given talks sharing her experience to pupils of all ages at Howell's.

Amanda's older daughter, a pupil at Ysgol Plasmawr, also organised a fundraising day for Breast Cancer Awareness there.

With six staff members and several parents and past pupils affected by breast cancer in the past decade, Howell's has run awareness assemblies and fundraisers to encourage students, and their families, to be body-aware and proactive, teaching them that “you're never too young to learn.”