When Shannon Donohoe-Simpson was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer in her thirties, she says it was a surprise.
“ I was that person that was very healthy,” she said. “I was really into personal training and I thought I ate really healthy. So when I was diagnosed with cancer, I know not just myself, but quite a few of my friends and my family were like, ‘how is Shannon diagnosed with cancer? She’s so healthy, this doesn’t make sense.'”
Donohoe-Simpson says community was key in helping her through the early days following her diagnosis.
“If there’s one thing that I know about myself, I’m really good at asking for help, and so I just had a lot of people reach out to me,” she said.
She credits The Callanish Society, a group that offers retreats for people with cancer, with being a big help. She says she regularly attended a support group they offered for young adults with cancer.
Donohoe-Simpson would have a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
“ I felt like I was just really in task mode. I had young children at home and a very aggressive form of cancer and I just wanted to live, and I’d already lost all my hair. And then the thought of not having any breasts, and I just thought, well implants just seemed like the right way to go,” she said.
She said she would experience symptoms like swelling around her chest and armpits, as well as anxiety and forgetfulness for years, but didn’t think much of them.
“ I just thought, well, I guess this is normal after you go through chemo and all these different surgeries.”
Years later, she was involved in a serious bike accident.
“I literally flew over my handlebars, and then with my handlebars being upright landing like directly on top of my handlebars with my full weight onto one of my implants and was certain that I had ruptured one of them,” she said.
Following the accident, Donohoe-Simpson started doing research into her implants and heard about breast implant illness. She also learned that her implants had since been recalled because of an increased risk of cancer after a safety review by Health Canada.
She opted to have her implants removed.
“ I can’t tell you how much better I felt even the day after I had my implants out,” she said.
Shannon Donohoe-Simpson spoke with People First Radio about her healing journey following a breast cancer diagnosis at age 34.
Donohoe-Simpson says she’s learned that healing isn’t a linear process.
“Many of us have been fed this story that, you know, we’re supposed to be happy all the time and that, when things aren’t great, it’s not good. And I actually don’t believe that’s the truth.”
She says being diagnosed with cancer at the relatively young age of 34 gave her perspective.
“ I had the opportunity to see life from a little bit of a different lens.”
At Donohoe-Simpson’s 50th birthday party, her friend Mel offered to create some art on her mastectomy area. Two years later Donohoe-Simpson decided to take Mel up on the offer.
“ I invited four of my dear friends to hold space for me. And so while Mel was doing the art across my mastectomy area, I had an opportunity to literally say out loud from start to finish the entire story..a lot of the different things that I’ve had the opportunity to experience, in my lifetime. And it was just such a healing process,” she said.
Donohoe-Simpson says she hopes her story can bring hope to other women going through similar experiences.
“I would say that we are not meant to do this alone. We are meant to have people around us and people hold us and people celebrate us, and that was a big part of this healing process for me, was just to be witnessed and remind myself and others that, you know, the beauty comes from within.”
Resources:
Health Canada Summary Safety Review: Breast Implants
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