Hi, I’m Emma. In 2022 I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. Friends and colleagues asked me to write a blog as I went through treatment because a) they liked my writing and b) they wanted to know how I was getting on without having to ask me.

People who know me tend to think that I am comfortable with sharing online because in other parts of my life I do that on a daily basis. But what they might not know is that I am not comfortable with sharing my pain when I’m actually going through it. Afterwards? Well that’s a horse of a different colour.

For two years I have kept a written diary and a private video / photo diary of my experience with cancer, and I’d like to share some of that with you now. I will add the date to the top of each post when it is from my journal so you know if it is a journal entry or a recollection from my memories.

When my mam was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 she would obsessively scour the pages of Macmillan’s website until I explained to her that what she was looking for wasn’t there. She wasn't going to find a web page titled “What Anne Walker needs to know about how it works out for her.” To the best of my ability, Born To Be Alive will be the posts that I was looking for the day I heard those words:

“It is breast cancer and you need to prepare yourself for chemotherapy.”

As I write this in 2025, I am scared about my future, so the two year time delay in this blog is helpful. I anticipate that my readers will mostly be breast cancer patients, so that’s who I will focus my chat to (trigger warnings will be used at the top of posts). If you don’t have a history of breast cancer and are simply curious, you are more than welcome to stay. With 1 in 8 - creeping up to 1 in 7 - women diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK, there's a likelihood that you will know someone who this blog may help you support.

Born To Be Alive is dedicated to my friends, neighbours and colleagues who held up the sky for my family during a very scary time.