Check vital to save women's lives

I was scared at times because until you get through the treatment, you just don't know what the outcome will be.

One year after her first of five surgeries, Kapiti woman Jan McKenzie began training for New Zealand's Oxfam Trailwalker event, the 100km trek set to be completed in less than 36 hours and known for its difficulty.

But for the wife and mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, the physical struggle was a minor feat when compared with the challenge that marked her path the year before.

Part of a group of 10 Kapiti women who attended a Pink Ribbon Breakfast last week, at Waikanae Kitchen and Joinery's Paraparaumu showroom, Mrs McKenzie openly shared her story as guest speaker.

"I was diagnosed from a routine breast screening mammogram, which showed areas of concern.

"An ultrasound followed, before a biopsy, which confirmed I had cancer." All up, Mrs McKenzie endured five surgeries across 15 months, including a full mastectomy.

"I had a first surgery but surgeons didn't get it all out and during a second operation, they found the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes.

"After that, they still realised they hadn't quite got everything and by then, because it had spread, I had to have chemotherapy before a mastectomy."

She spent six months fighting through chemotherapy treatments every three weeks.

"I was scared at times because until you get through the treatment, you just don't know what the outcome will be.

"You find yourself asking 'what if?'.

"Thanks to support from my husband and son and a positive attitude, I knew I just had to get through it. Thankfully, I did."

Following chemotherapy, surgeons performed a mastectomy and breast reconstruction in a joint surgery that lasted five hours.

"I was lucky enough to have health insurance so I had it done privately, which meant I had my first surgery within a week of my diagnosis."

She had what is referred to as a TRAM Flap, which involved taking lower abdominal fat and muscle and moulding it to create a new breast.

"It took a long time to recover from that surgery."

Mrs McKenzie advised women to regularly self-check for changes and said cancer did not always feel or appear as women believed it should.

"What I felt was never a lump, it was more like thickened tissue that was quite elongated and so in my head I thought, a lump is round?"

Jennie Young, co-owner of Waikanae Kitchen and Joinery and a childhood friend of Mrs McKenzie's, said it was crucial for women to check their breasts as early and consistently as possible.

"I know of girls in their early 20s who have had breast cancer," said Mrs Young, whose event raised $390 for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation.

"I think we get very complacent about a lot of things and think 'oh, it's not going to happen to me'.

"Checking is absolutely imperative."