Cancer survivor to CANCER HELPER

One woman knew she wanted to support others like her

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When Fiona Shoults found out that she had breast cancer in 2005, she had no idea how much her life would change. Having undergone a lumpectomy and chemotherapy to treat the disease, she then discovered her fertility had been affected.

'I had to have seven rounds of IVF between 2012 and 2015 in order to conceive my daughter, Mireya,' says Fiona, now 53, from Kent. Despite this, she has come through the experience feeling lucky. 'I feel blessed to have become a mother despite everything,' she says. 'And surviving cancer has given me a new appreciation for life.'

Fiona also experienced a change in mindset following her ordeal. 'I'd previously worked on a contract basis in the finance sector,' she says. 'I'd saved enough money to take time off after Mireya was born in 2015, but I think everyone expected me to return to the industry eventually.'

However, Fiona had different plans. 'I felt as if I wanted to do something to help other women with cancer,' she says. 'I just didn't know what.' It was when she was undergoing a beauty treatment in 2017 that Fiona had her eureka moment. She'd gone to a cosmetic tattooist to have her eyebrows tattooed - they'd never grown back properly after chemo. 'The tattooist had a sign up saying that she was looking for a trainee,' she says. 'It was a real light-bulb moment.'

Cosmetic tattooists are able to help those who have gone through chemotherapy by creating realistic-looking eyebrows, and doing specialist tattoos to cover surgical scars. 'Like I told friends who suggested that I was vain to get my eyebrows tattooed after treatment, it's not vanity, it's normality,' Fiona says. She wanted to be trained in how to do these procedures, as well as something a little more personal.