LONDON, (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Dawn Butler, a Labour MP, revealed to the BBC that she underwent a surgery after being diagnosed with breast cancer during a regular check-up.
The 52-year-old MP for Brent Central was diagnosed with breast cancer in December and had a mastectomy at the Royal London Hospital.
She claimed that she had no symptoms and that the disease was discovered during normal breast screening.
She told the BBC that a mammography “saved my life.” Her cancer would have gone undetected had it not been for a mammogram.
The politician was scheduled to visit a surgeon the next day after a follow-up biopsy. She realised she had cancer at that point, she explained.
She described the experience as “overwhelming.” She said her first reaction was that she was going to die and she probably only had 24 hours to live.
‘Some bad news’
She was alone in the hospital room when the surgeon verified the diagnosis because of Covid. “I’m going to lose all my hair,” the MP expressed her concern after learning she would need chemotherapy.
The disease, however, was said to be contained in one region and that they should be able to simply remove it. The surgeon informed her that she would need surgery “to cut it out.”
But she wasn’t dying, the Labour MP told her family after returning home to tell them she had “some bad news.”
Ms Butler, whose sister and mother both survived breast cancer, kept her diagnosis a secret from her partner and sister-in-law at first.
She claimed that the prospect of disclosing her condition to a larger audience caused her to have a panic attack. She said she was going to need to go public and that gave her a panic attack.Â
This must have been around midnight, she added and she was thinking ‘oh my goodness’, and she just began feeling herself overheating.
‘They’ve saved my life’Â
During the initial COVID lockdown, when programmes were suspended, nearly one million women in the UK missed important breast screening, according to a leading charity.
Breast Cancer Now predicted at the time that approximately 8,600 women who had skipped a scan were likely to have undiagnosed breast cancer.
Ms Butler is now urging all women to get a mammogram as soon as possible.
“There will be women who will die needlessly if their breast cancer is not discovered,” she warned.
The MP expressed her gratitude to the NHS doctors who treated her. She went on to say, “I’m not going to forget what they’ve done for me.”
She added she would never forget how much effort they put in and how they didn’t always feel appreciated. They had saved her life – she knows it’s what they do – but they were superheroes in her opinion.
The operation was a “complete success,” she claimed, and she expects to “make a full recovery.”
Sir Keir Starmer, Labour’s leader, said he and the party stood behind Ms Butler.
He told her, “Dawn, your bravery, strength, and determination shine through.” “I’m sorry you’re going through this, but know that I, along with the rest of the party, am behind you.”
Ms Butler is currently on leave from work to recover from surgery, but she has stated that she intends to continue campaigning.
When asked what message she wanted to convey, she said: “Please go for your mammogram. Just book it and go.”
