‘I’ve lived for eight years with one breast’

Judith Logan had a breast reconstruction about a year after she was first diagnosed with breast cancer 20 years ago, when she was 43.

“It completely changed my life,” the 62-year-old from Aberdeen said. “[Beforehand] I couldn’t look in the mirror, I thought it was awful.

“Then I was given a reconstruction and a boob uplift on the other breast. The whole of the north-east got to see my amazing breasts,” she joked. “The surgeon who did it is my absolute hero.”

She has had breast cancer twice since then and in 2021 she had to undergo another mastectomy. She has been warned it could be another couple of years before it is reconstructed.

“I hate my body, I hate my prosthesis. But part of me asks if I’m being fair. It’s cosmetic, it’s not going to save my life,” she said.

“Am I being selfish because I want cosmetic surgery? But it goes deeper than that. It affects my mental health. I know the difference it made to me as a person the first time round.”

However she said she gets annoyed by people who complain about the delay.

“We don’t have a right to this. It’s part of the healing process. I see it as a privilege getting the surgery. I totally understand that life-saving operations have to come first.”