Hi, my name is Sarah Crimmins. At age 28, when my daughter was only 11 months old (in December 2008), I was diagnosed with Grade 3 Invasive Breast Cancer.

Since then I have had a mastectomy of my left breast, gone through IVF, 4 months of Chemotherapy, 5 weeks of radiotherapy, hospitalised with meningitis and just recently in December 2009, I underwent a prophylactic mastectomy of my right breast with immediate reconstruction and a reconstruction of my left breast using the latissimus dorsi.

At the start of my cancer journey I spent hours on the internet searching for similar stories to my own and in particular, photographs of those women so I could gain an understanding of what I was about to go through and although I found some, I didn't find many.

This is the main reason for my blog. I wanted to be able to share my experience and photographs of my journey in the hope that it will help someone else with the decisions that they are about to face.

This is the story of the worst year of my life, from finding the lump all the way to my reconstruction surgery and beyond.........

Please feel free to post some comments, actually i would absolutely love it if you would xo

Thank you!!!!

When my father in law organised my fundraiser, he arranged for a short story to be in the Illawara Mercury to get the awareness out there about a 'young woman with breast cancer' as well as about the fundraiser. So, once all of my surgeries etc were over i really wanted to say a big thank you to everyone that came and contributed to the fundraiser, as it was only because of them that i was able to have my surgeries.

Unfortunately the Mercury put their own spin on the story and basically just wrote what they wanted and didn't publish the thank you that i wanted which i was really dissappointed and a bit cranky about.

So, here's what i had originally wanted in the article -

To whom it May Concern,

I am writing to ask for a thank you note to be published in the Illawara Mercury. In May of last year you published a story in relation to my fight with Breast Cancer and the benefit night that my father in law (Michael Crimmins) organised in order to raise funds for the McGrath Foundation as well as for my operations, cancer treatment and to enable me to be off work.

I am so sorry for the delay in sending this through however directly after the benefit night I had my last round of chemo, radiotherapy, I contracted Meningitis and then had my reconstruction surgery. All of that has taken me up until now.

I have just started back to work and have recovered from my reconstruction surgery (although i still have a few more surgeries to go they are nothing like what i've already been through) and I sincerely wanted to thank everyone that has helped me through this crazy time in my life.

I want to thank the business of the Illawara, the Illawara Tech Tahs, the Fraternity Club, South Sydney Rugby League Football Club and all of the ongoing support from our family and friends. It's because of you that I was able to go ahead and have my reconstruction surgery last year as well as have this time off work which allowed me to spend some much needed quality time with my husband Mat, and our daughter, Macy.

During my experience I found it hard to find personal stories and photographs from women the same age as me (I was only 28 when diagnosed) and in particular the struggles that we go through of not only the cancer treatment but of being a young mum as well. Because of this I am in the process of setting up a blog (sarahsbreastcancerstory.blogspot.com) which I hope other young mum's out there going through cancer treatment may find helpful.

The love and support that I have received from the people of the Illawara over the last year has been overwhelming and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I always thought that I was a positive person and having gone through this, it has made me realise that it really is the only way you can get through it. There are so many people out that that will love and support you, no matter how bald and lop sided you are :-)

Sincerely,
Sarah Crimmins
Posted by Sarah Crimmins

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