Twenty-seven. A midlife disaster. Determined for change.
I’d spent the very best a part of my 20s working in London as a dancer, choreographer, and instructor, so after I acquired the chance to take my work and expertise internationally, I used to be ecstatic! I simply didn’t notice that “break” would flip into greater than a 12 months of therapy and restoration.
Dance had been my entire life. My purpose to dwell. That’s, till an enormous fats most cancers prognosis acquired thrown at me.
Rapidly, my life went from countless dance courses and random (however cool) jobs throughout London to countless scans, blood exams, and oncology appointments. All as a result of I discovered a lump in my left breast 4 days earlier than I used to be as a consequence of go train dance in China. (Sensible.)
In basic Lucy trend, I nonetheless went to China. To chop a narrative quick, I acquired the lump checked and obtained my prognosis 4 weeks into the job and despatched straight again to the UK. I obtained six rounds of chemotherapy, numerous blood exams and scans, steroids, ovarian-suppression injections, a lumpectomy, lymph-node elimination, 20 rounds of radiotherapy, and a 12 months of focused remedy. I bear in mind crying within the automobile throughout therapy as a result of, for the primary time, I didn’t know what I used to be going to do with my future. Dance as I knew it had modified without end, and stepping away wasn’t one thing I had chosen.
Therapy modified my physique: fixed fatigue, mind fog, weight acquire. Surgical procedure modified my capability to maneuver in the best way I at all times had. All of what I had been via gave me a very new outlook on my physique and my life. How a lot my physique had carried out for me made me respect it a lot extra. However transferring was a complete new expertise.
For the primary time, dance as I’d recognized it wasn’t bodily accessible to me anymore. I felt determined to maneuver my physique once more and get my life again. Then someday, I heard “By no means Gonna Not Dance Once more,” by P!nk, whereas doing what I at all times do to get me via: dancing in my room, even when chemo had me feeling so sick that generally the dancing was solely occurring in my head.
That’s after I realized the reply to my very own query that evening I’d cried within the automobile, questioning what I used to be going to do with my future. I used to be NEVER not going to bop once more.
Dance didn’t must be this large shiny factor for me to chase. I’d forgotten what it was actually about: Pleasure. Neighborhood. Freedom. Confidence. Most cancers could have modified my life, however dance jogged my memory that I used to be nonetheless residing it.
“Most cancers could have modified my life, however dance jogged my memory that I used to be nonetheless residing it.”
—Lucy Mae Freeman, dancer and breast most cancers consciousness advocate
You get instructed while you end chemotherapy that the toughest half is over. So you possibly can think about how comfortable I used to be after I completed my final spherical! I used to be again at school after three weeks, and so excited to start my dance life once more. Little did I do know that chemo was solely the start.
My most cancers journey had turn into the beginning of one thing particular: DANCE • LIVE • CHECK YOUR CHEST, a dance-led breast most cancers consciousness marketing campaign I started throughout therapy that makes use of dance to encourage individuals to verify their chest and know their regular. Dance has at all times been an unbelievable instrument for me to really feel empowered in my very own physique, so utilizing it for the marketing campaign solely felt proper.
I knew I wished to create a flash mob, as I’m by no means not moved by seeing a bunch of individuals come collectively and dance for pleasure, and I wished to make use of that very same feeling to encourage consciousness in others. The concept I first pitched to a buddy throughout chemo grew into one thing that, in the present day, has reached and helped lots of people—even far past the dance world. It’s grown right into a neighborhood of survivors, creatives, and other people whose lives have been touched by most cancers.
Breast most cancers is frightening, and earlier than my prognosis I averted fascinated with it. That made me surprise: How may that worry turn into one thing far more encouraging?
That’s the aim behind DANCE • LIVE • CHECK YOUR CHEST, which I hope evokes everybody to be assured of their our bodies—sufficient to know if one thing isn’t proper. And to me, dance, with its pleasure, neighborhood, and freedom, felt like the proper method to try this.
