For Melissa Del Popolo, breast cancer runs in the family. But that didn’t make her diagnosis four years ago any easier.
After watching her mum lose her six-year battle to the disease at 58, Melissa, a fashion agent from East Freemantle, didn’t want to live the rest of her life with that shadow hanging over her. She knew she had to have a mammogram.
But it wasn’t until a routine self-examination in May 2010, when the mother-of-two found a lump in her breast, that she decided to get a check-up.
“At first, the doctor told me it was hormonal mastitis but, being a fit and healthy woman, I just knew something was wrong,” the 45-year-old tells Woman’s Day.
In November 2010, on the anniversary of her mother’s death, Melissa was given the devastating news she’d long feared – she too had breast cancer.
“I had a mammogram, like I’d planned, and a biopsy, and that’s when I was told,” she says.
Knowing the odds were against her, she bravely chose to go under the knife for a double mastectomy. A month later, she had breast reconstruction surgery.
“My brother and husband, whose mother also died of cancer, were with me when the specialist fired all the options at me. The boys wanted me to take my boobs off but, ultimately, the decision was mine,” she says.
“I can still remember looking at the surgeon and telling him to take them off. I felt that they’d done what they needed to do and I didn’t need them anymore anyway.”
Melissa says she struggled with how to break the news to her two daughters, Tessa, 20, and Mia, 16.
“At first, I thought I was going to die, because that’s what happened to my mother, and when I told the girls they thought the same thing,” she says.
“It was an emotional time for all of us. I was dealing with the thought of never looking the same again.”
But her journey didn’t end there. In 2011, she had a preventive oophorectomy, where the ovaries are removed – the same surgery Angelina Jolie is considering.
“From there on, I went full-speed into menopause, which has been hard,” reveals Melissa, who says her experience has taught her some valuable lessons.
“Life is a gift and the body is an amazing thing. While you may never look or feel the same again, the scars eventually become a part of your body and you learn to accept them.”
“Thankfully, my cancer is not genetically related. It was different to the one my mother had. My kids will eventually get tested for peace of mind, but they’ve said to me that even if they turned out to have it, they wouldn’t be scared because they’ve watched their mother go through it and she was OK.”
This Friday, Melissa and her family will get behind Purple Bra Day in Western Australia, a day which raises money for people affected by breast cancer.
