Brentwood woman who survived Cancer is launching national dance event for Race for Life
Cancer survivor and charity runner Jazz Cooper - Credit: Archant
A Brentwood woman who survived cancer is raising awareness of the disease while helping Cancer Research.
Jazz Cooper, 44, a legal secretary, of Chase Road, found a lump in her breast. Within a week she had it checked and a biopsy found it was cancer.
She found it difficult to tell her family, especially daughters Amy and Katie, who were aged ten and 12 at the time.
Chemotherapy
She said: “I felt numb when I found out. It was hard thinking about it. I was prepared, but my husband was a wreck.”
She had a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery in 2009, followed by six months of chemotherapy, five weeks of radiotherapy and was on the drug Tamoxifen.
She later discovered her grandmother had ovarian cancer, so she had her ovaries removed as a preventative measure.
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She has three-monthly check-ups and said the diagnosis changed her life.
“I look after myself more now and joined a slimming club. I have lost a few stone through that and I go swimming regularly. The first year after my cancer I ran in Race for Life three times! But now I take part once a year. I will be running in Weald Park, Brentwood, on May 25.”
This week Jazz joined Strictly Come Dancing stars Camilla Dallerup and Karen Hauer at Liverpool Street Station to launch Cancer Slam, a new dance created for Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life. She will be taking part in a Cancer Slam dance event in Chelmsford today (Friday).
