KELLY STEVENS
My blogs
| Gender | Female |
|---|---|
| Industry | Arts |
| Introduction | I write for an online consumer trend publication by day, and I'm a blogger and life writer by night. I was working on a memoir about the premature birth and death of my first child until I was diagnosed with 9 cm of high-grade DCIS, an early form of breast cancer, at the Mermaid Centre, Truro. I had lymph node surgery, a skin-sparing mastectomy and immediate reconstruction. I put away the memoir (for now) and started to use this blog as a workbook about DCIS in an attempt to get my head around the disease. A chance conversation about oranges, a trip to the Royal College of Surgeons and a growing friendship with my consultant, Mr A, has turned this project into an exploration not only of DCIS, but of the amazing craft of oncoplastic surgery. I have led workshops on the history of surgery and demonstrated mastectomy and reconstruction using oranges! It has made me feel entirely different about losing my breast. Instead of feeling mutilated, I feel like a walking work of art. Now I am working on a book, Mermaids and Monsters, which is part memoir, part reflections on the history of breast cancer surgery. And it's all thanks to Mr A and the oranges. |