'My left breast was moved to my right after cancer recurred'

6 hours ago

Natalie Grice

BBC News

Nicola Purdie first had cancer when her elder child was a baby

Nicola Purdie Head and shoulders shot of Nicola Purdie standing against a white wall. She has shoulder length blonde hair and wearing a flowery light coloured top. She is smiling directly at the camera. — Nicola Purdie first had cancer when her elder child was a baby

Five months into a pregnancy for a much wanted second child in 2024, Nicola Purdie found a lump in her right breast.

It is a nightmare scenario for anyone. But for Nicola this was not a new experience.

She had already had a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and breast reconstruction after being diagnosed with cancer in 2020.

But a radical idea which she suggested to her surgeon has led to what is believed to be a pioneering world first procedure - transplanting a healthy reconstructed breast to replace a cancerous one.

In September 2020, Nicola had just finished with breastfeeding her first child and was returning to work as a geography teacher in her home town of Swansea when she found a lump.

By October it was diagnosed as cancer and she started five months of chemotherapy at Singleton Hospital, followed by the double mastectomy.

Nicola, now 38, said: "Even though I only had cancer in the one breast, my maternal aunty and maternal grandmother also had had breast cancer previously. I thought 'I'm young, let's just get rid of everything and do as much as we can'."

She had reconstructive surgery using skin and tissue from her abdomen in a procedure known as a DIEP (deep inferior epigastric perforator) flap.

"It meant I had natural breasts which would grow and shrink with my bodyweight over time and I wouldn't need implants that would need changing in 10 or 15 years," she said.

Because the cancer was oestrogen-fuelled, she was placed on hormone suppression therapy for at least two years.

'This is not a coincidence. This is cancer'

"We knew at the time I was diagnosed that we wanted to have another baby eventually, so we waited for two-and-a-half years actually.

"All the oncologists we saw were of the same opinion that I was at no increased risk, because I'd had a complete pathological response [no sign of cancer post-treatment]."

Then lump number two appeared.

Nicola explained: "This time it was in the skin of the breast because that was the only tissue that was remaining really from the first surgery. There must have been some cancer cells there.

"I knew straight away as soon as I found the lump, this is not a coincidence. This is cancer again."

Consultant surgeon Reza Arya was tasked with carrying out Nicola's "crazy idea"

Surgeon Reza Arya stands next to Nicola Purdie in the BBC HQ in Cardiff. He has short, dark hair and wears glasses, a blue suit jacket and an open-necked white shirt. He is smiling. Nicola has long blonde hair. She is wearing a very light blue blouse. One large round drop earring can be seen in her left ear. They are in a studio with a red and orange behind them with the words "BBC Sounds" in BBC branding - three white squares containing the letters B,B,C in them in orange, and Sounds written underneath in light orange, all in capital letters. — Consultant surgeon Reza Arya was tasked with carrying out Nicola's "crazy idea"

Apart from family and a close friend, Nicola did not tell anyone about the cancer this time. Partly it was to shield her daughter from knowing but she had another reason.

"I wanted to protect the baby. I wanted him to come into the world and it to be all about him. I didn't want it to be focusing on 'oh gosh Nicky, you OK":[]}