Donna Marett has lost one breast to cancer. Now her other breast must be removed. She tells Jo Knowsley she wants a reconstruction so she can feel like a womanly bride.
When Sunshine Coast mum Donna Marett fell in love with Jason Penny, she was thrilled to have finally met the man of her dreams.
But as their relationship grew, and they had a little boy together — Kai, now 3 — she never imagined she would have to battle life-threatening breast cancer before they could walk down the aisle.
Donna, 36, had her right breast removed in July last year, after two lumpectomies failed to halt her spreading cancer. Now, almost exactly a year later, she will have her left breast removed after learning that it is full of fibro glandular tissue, which makes it harder to detect breast cancer, should the disease return.
“It wasn’t a hard decision,” she says.
“The first time was very traumatic. But I’m determined to beat this.
“I have stood in front of the mirror and said to the cancer, ‘I’ve beaten you; you haven’t beaten me.’
“And I have a lot to live for. I have a wonderful fiancé and two beautiful boys [Aidan, 14, is from an earlier relationship]. Then there is Jason’s little boy Tyson [10], who lives with us part time. And Jason and I are getting married in November.
I want our wedding to be a huge party — an enormous celebration of life, of the fact that I’m still here.
“But losing a breast — and soon both of them — is devastating. It’s had a big impact on my confidence and on my more intimate relationship with Jason. I just don’t like him to look at me.
“Breasts are a symbol of femininity and womanliness in our society. And I want to feel like a whole woman at our wedding.”
For the full story see this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale July 6, 2009
