Leigh pub landlady Kim’s glad to be back behind her bar (From Echo)

Leigh pub landlady Kim’s glad to be back behind her bar

8:00am Sunday 11th September 2011 in Leigh By Ryan McCarthy

Crooked Billet charity riders – Kim Roberts, pictured front left, with friends outside her pub

A PUB landlady who has endured two mastectomies and is still battling cancer has launched a campaign to raise awareness of her condition.

Kim Roberts, 44, has suffered a nightmare three years coping with her condition.

After six months off work, she is now back behind the bar at the Crooked Billet in Old Leigh, and determined to warn people of the symptoms.

Mrs Roberts was first diagnosed in 2008 after finding a small lump in her breast.

She said: “It was just a small lump and it was removed, and we assumed everything was OK. But in October last year it came back.”

She had chemotherapy and radiotherapy which ended last February, but months later her breast was inflamed.

She said: “It felt like my breast was burning. It was itchy and I had shooting pains in the breast area.”

Mrs Roberts was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form often without a lump present. She said: “It was a huge blow.

“I started chemo in the hope of getting it under control, and I had three courses but it didn’t do anything.”

Then, Mrs Roberts had a radical mastectomy where a 15.5cm tumour was removed at Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford, in March.

Surgeons needed to use skin from her stomach to cover her chest from the centre to under her left armpit. “It was basically a free tummy tuck,” joked the mum-of-one. “I am OK about it, but I can understand why people might be a bit funny. It’s an awful scar, but I’m still here.”

But, at the end of April, Mrs Roberts found a lump, this time in her right breast. In May that was removed. She also had her ovaries removed at Basildon Hospital in July, as inflammatory breast cancer is often hormonally-driven and can spread.

But still the nightmare was not over. Mrs Roberts said: “It has re-occured in my scar tissue and looks like a little blister. It’s not going to go away, but it’s not spreading. The concern was if it went to any organs.”

She said doctors are not planning to remove the latest lump, but have referred her to the world-renowned Royal Marsden Hospital in London to see if there are any drugs which might be able to help.

She said: “It comes to a stage where the doctors have to question how much they remove and is it under control.

“It is great to be back at work and having people rally round to help raise awareness of the condition, and to help raise money for charity.”

Inflammatory breast cancer is rare. Cancer cells block the lymph vessels in the breast’s skin. Symptoms include redness, swelling, warmth, often no distinct lump and nipple inversion. It can occur in men.