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Wednesday, 19 September 2007 |
Breast Cancer Survivor Poses Topless
Emma Duncan was just 31 when she was last diagnosed with breast cancer, but sadly it didn't come as much of a surprise. She had already survived the disease once and lost her mother to the condition when she was just nine years old. Now 33, Emma remains unbowed by breast cancer and has posed topless for a cancer charity campaign to raise awareness and funding. The plucky N Power operations manager from Crampton, Northumberland has posed for Cancer Research UK's All Join Together campaign. Holding a rubber duck and wearing nothing but body paint and a beaming smile, huge posters of Emma will appear in 600 Cancer Research UK shops during October.
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Emma inherited a faulty version of the BRCA 1 gene, which gave her a 50-80 per cent chance of developing breast cancer. She also lost her grandmother to the disease aged 42. Emma was 29 when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003. She was treated with a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. After turning 31, she was diagnosed with a tumour in her other breast following a routine check-up in June 2005. She went on to have a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
 Holding a rubber duck and wearing nothing but body paint and a beaming smile, huge posters of Emma will appear in 600 Cancer Research UK shops during October. Emma was daubed in an exclusive Lulu Guiness design, which features on rubber ducks being sold in Cancer Research UK stores. Tracey Boyd has also designed a duck for the charity. In the posters Emma is painted white and stencilled with red and black love hearts, which bear the words 'true' and 'false' - a pattern by British designer Lulu Guinness.
Emma said: "The idea behind the ducks is that it will remind you to check your breasts in the bathroom. It's so important. I first discovered my breast cancer in the bath. If I hadn't been checking them I may not have found out I had cancer until it was too late. I would urge all women, whatever their age, to check their breasts regularly."
 She said: "It was such a strange and unusual thing to be asked to do. It was daring and daunting but I thought 'I won't have this opportunity again so I've just got to go for it.' I've found taking part in the photoshoot for the All Join Together campaign liberating. I was worried about going naked at first after having such major surgery to reconstruct my breasts but I love the way the photographs have come out. It took five painstaking hours to paint the design and I wasn't allowed to sit down! But once the paint was on it just felt like I was wearing a tight fitting T-Shirt. It only took half an hour to wash off though. It seemed such a shame after all that hard work!"
 "I'm definitely glad I went for it. Afterwards I felt very proud of myself and everyone I told was so amazed. They were very complimentary of the posters and said they looked fantastic," she added.
Talking about her fight with cancer Emma said,” Breast cancer has been such a major a part of my life and it is always at the back of my mind. I still have down days – sometimes it feels like it's just too awful and it's always going to be with me. But I feel better as each anniversary goes past since my diagnosis. I've been through so much and I'm now trying to get back to my normal life and have returned to work. My sister Karen and husband Graham have been so supportive as have so many of my friends and family. Now I don't plan in advance, instead I just live for the day and seize opportunities. That's why I agreed to do the poster campaign. I'll never be asked to do this again...at least I hope not!"
 "I've had issues with the way I look following my treatment for breast cancer and I think that many breast cancer survivors feel the same way. It's exciting to know that posters of me naked will help to raise awareness of Cancer Research UK's research, all over the UK. I think it's daring but very positive to show breast cancer survivors naked in Cancer Research UK shop windows. I'm nude but it's all done for the best possible cause."
The All Join Together campaign aims to make women aware of their risk of breast cancer and raise funds for research into the disease. More than 44,000 women are diagnosed with the condition every year. |
