Breast cancer survivor honoured
Kristin Hallenga receiving her Pride of Britain award
Kristin Hallenga, received a Pride of Britain award this week for launching a breast cancer awareness campaign, Coppa Feel, while undergoing treatment for the disease. After receiving her award, the 23-year-old said: “That was just wow! I’m still buzzing. It was amazing to see so many celebrities, but even more incredible to see them all crying, because of something little me has done.”
“But most of all having this has given me the spirit to continue the fight and beat my breast cancer. It has been a tough year and I’m still taking one day at a time, but this award will help me stay positive even through the difficult times.”
I first saw Kristin back in July on Dawn Porter’s Sky One documentary on breast cancer, and was struck by how young and how beautiful she was. She really made an impression on me. Her story is a sadly familiar one to those of us, whose concerns over finding a lump were dismissed by our own GPs., who subscribed to the myth that we were too young to get breast cancer. Kristin visited her doctors in June 2008 concerned about ‘lumpy breasts’. Doctors told her it was nothing to worry about and suggested that evening primrose oil might be helpful. Kristin went to China for six months, travelling and working. On her return Kristin went back to her doctors as she was still concerned, again she was told that there was nothing to worry about. Kristin’s mum made her go back again and eventually after tests she was diagnosed with breast cancer. A week later, a scan revealed that the cancer had also spread to her spine. Kristin had intensive radiotherapy on her spine, which eased the pain, and is now undergoing chemotherapy to shrink the tumour.
Congratulations Kristin. You are a deserving winner of this award and a true inspiration to us all.
Wow – she is so beautiful and brave – a deserved winner of this award
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I also saw Kristin on Dawn Porter’s documentary and like you was struck by what a beautiful young girl she is
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congratulations to you Kristin and wishing you all the best for your healing
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truly an inspiration – instead of whinging about her bad luck – she got out there and tries to make life better!
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wonderfully inspiring story
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She really is beautiful and her experience is scarily close to mine regarding her age, lumpy breasts, being dismissed by doctors (specialists too) and I was even diagnosed in New Zealand while on a trip around the world! Thank God for those Kiwis because I’m not sure that I would have been diagnosed at all here in Ireland.
Thanks Marie, I’m off to check out the documentary about Kristin now 🙂
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Thank you Marie for sharing this with us. So sad this beautiful young woman wasn’t taken serious earlier! It probably would have saved her a lot of pain, gireve and worries. She is beautiful and totally deserves the reward.
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thanks everyone for your comments – as i said earlier, i was struck by her beauty and grace in dealing with her cancer
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Wow!!! Wow, wow, wow! Amazing story! I am a bit speechless! Thanks for sharing her story, so sad to see her struggle to get a diagnosis when things could have been a bit easier for her if a doctor had listened to her fears and truly acknowledged that she knows her body better than they do!
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And Deb this a point I come back to again and again in this blog – your life is truly in your own hands. We owe it to ourselves to know how to tune into our bodies and be our own advocates. Thanks for commenting today 🙂
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beautiful story and a beautiful spirit – thanks for sharing
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what a wonderful inspiration to us all and an award well deserved
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