LAURA PRICE
I was diagnosed with breast cancer on 22 June 2012, aged 29. I began writing this blog on Facebook as a means to keep my family and friends updated, but it soon grew into something bigger, and has now been read by hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
Almost a decade later, I am cancer free and leading a full and busy life, but I still receive countless messages from women who have discovered my posts on hair loss, chemotherapy and fertility. I am always happy to receive these emails and to hear that I have been able to help in some small way.
This blog was always intended to be a lighthearted approach to what is, of course, a very serious subject. I hope no offence will be taken to my attempts at humour, and that readers will understand I wanted to turn a negative experience into something positive.
When I started writing this blog, I had recently left my job as a Latin America editor for Bloomberg News in Buenos Aires to work for Facebook in Dublin. Many moons later, after a long career with The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, I am now a freelance journalist in London, mostly writing about food and travel, but with plenty of forays back into Latin America life (Covid permitting).
My first novel, Single Bald Female, was published in 2022 by Pan Macmillan.
Update, July 2022
Unfortunately, 10 years after my primary breast cancer, I was diagnosed with stage four, secondary (incurable) breast cancer. You can read my updates and subscribe to my newsletter here.
the big scary 'C' word 
Laura, a Flavia me contou todas as suas histórias e achei impressionante como vc vem lidando com este importante assunto. Estamos torcendo juntos (Flavia, Nina e Eu) pra que vc tenha uma recuperação maravilhosa. Vc é uma pessoa especial e merece uma vida muito tranquila. Que vc continue tendo esta luz dentro de seu corpo e mente ao longo de toda sua vida. bjs Luis Bohone Vitiritti
Laura, you are amazing as is your blog. Me avisa quando voce esta em Londres. Beijao. Alex
Laura! Tenho acompanhado sua historia, confesso que com mais ansiedade do que podia prever, mas completamente sem saber o que pensar, ou o que dizer. Fico tentando imaginar o que voce vai dizer no próximo post, e voce sempre surpreende! Obrigado por compartilhar estas passagens, e que tudo de melhor acontecao para voce nesta jornada!
Hi Laura,
as a former Bloomberg colleague in London I find great you want to share with us your experience. I’m sure it is going to be a strong parenthesis in your life and you will recover soon.
I will follow you here regularly (yes, another one not on FB…)
Ciao,
Gian Luca
Ps. If you like food and want to visit my website, have a look on the one I left to you into my details 😉
Well done Laura – big inspiration.. I am a big fan of the Silver Fox option….
Inspiring read, thank you for sharing, I was with my mum every step of the way beating this!!
Laura!! Te mando mucha fuerza!!
Genial como te lo has tomado. La parte psicilogica es la mas importante y en eso tu ya has vencido.
Eres pura inspiracion.
Si en algo te puedo ayudar, simplemente dilo .
Un beso
Laura, I am glad/sad to hear about your condition. Glad to hear about it, sad it’s happening. But hey, it couldn’t be happening to a more worthy adversary! Your positive attitude, healthy lifestyle and the support of friends, family and even people you don’t yet know will all be very helpful to you as you will almost surely discover as this plays itself out.
I was diagnosed with cancer (Hodgkins lymphoma) 7 years ago after experiencing symptoms for almost a year without being properly diagnosed. It was almost too late for me. They caught it finally at stage 4b, the final stage. Thankfully, I responded well to treatment and after 6 months of bi-weekly chemo I was cancer-free. Tomorrow, coincidentally, I go in for my annual CAT or PET scan to take a peek and make sure there’s nothing in there that shouldn’t be 😉
I would take my chemo on Wednesday, recover the next few days and return to work on Monday, working for the next 10 days, then back to the chemo bags the following wednesday for another round. I strongly encourage taking this type of balanced approach to treatment and life since it helps keep everything in… well… balance (for lack of a better word).
Keep your posititve attitude. It can literally save your life and is at least as important as whatever treatments in which you may be participating (the “undergo vs participate” dicotomy is worthy of reflection). I was often in contact with Jenn B… during her treatment and I’d like to think that I may have provided some help, comfort or at least understanding for her. Please feel free to reach out to me privately at any time, for any reason.
Fuerza y un beso grande. Cheers!
Laura you are always able to make me smile, and certainly you are fighting back this present problem. Keep attacking. Your Fairy God Mother.xx
Laura, eu descobri o seu blog por acaso e me surpreendi com o seu recente diagnostico, mas tambem me surpreendi pela sua energia e sua positividade enfrentando a situacao. Parabens. Voce consegue abordar o tema de uma maneira tao impressionante que é capaz de converter uma situação aparentemente adversa em algo motivante e inspirador que certamente vai iluminar o seu caminho e ajuda-la a vencer todos os seus desafios. Parabens pelo seu brilho, por sua coragem e determinação.
You may want to read Boing Boing’s Xeni Jardin’s posts on her fight against breast, if you haven’t already. Really inspiring.
http://boingboing.net/2011/12/09/the-diagnosis.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmcquaid/2012/02/17/how-xeni-jardins-cancer-struggle-redefines-community-and-journalism/
Hi Eli, thanks for sending this – I got your comment while I was in hospital and forgot to reply so apologies for the delay! I am just looking at Xeni Jardin’s stuff and it’s great, thanks so much! Best wishes, Laura
Brilliant blog – is so REFRESHING to hear someone being positive and finding the lighter side of what we are going through. Currently just had number four of FEC and the only way to deal with this is to grit your teeth and think of the end! Am stockpiling champagne for Xmas 🙂 Although obviously currently taking the opportunity to drink copious amounts of wine whenever I can manage it. And throwing caution to the wind and buying McQueen scarves like they are going out of fashion (haha) and wigs that make me look like a dodgy Jordan. xxx
Hi Lisa, thanks so much for your comments and sorry to hear you’re going through all this too. I only had three rounds of FEC, are you having six FEC and no Taxotere? I guess the good thing about it is that the symptoms tend to be the same each time so you kind of know what you’re letting yourself in for. My first round of Taxotere came as a bit of a shock and took me longer to get over, but fortunately the second round of it has been a bit better (barring the fact that I spent four days of it in hospital, of course!)
Champagne stocks and shopping for ludicrously expensive items is the only way forward, I’m afraid – you’re doing all the right things! Good luck for round five and keep looking after yourself! Best wishes, Laura xx
a different species…positivity through tough times. I salute you. More power to your elbow.
Thank you! xx
Hi Laura, I realize we havnt spoken in 100years but saw your blog pop up on Facebook! Im glad you are taking such a positive stance with your big C! We lost my mum to Ovarian cancer 6 years ago now and it was truly heartbreaking to see her suffer so much and to then be taken from us.
I wish you the VERY best and hope that you make a speedy and full recovery. I hope that you are surrounded with as much positivity as you are putting out – good luck
Wow, hi Holly! Thanks for getting in touch. It’s really good to hear from you but I’m so sorry to hear about your Mum. I promise you I’ll overcome this horrible disease! Hope everything is good with you now. I often think of you when I drive past your old house, even though you probably haven’t lived there for at least 15 years! Take care xx
Hi Laura,
My name is Michael Foti and I am the Director of Business Development and Syndication for Empowered Doctor. Our company, Empowered Doctor, focuses on the latest healthcare news. Currently, we are news affiliates of The Chicago Tribune, Arizona Central, and CBSNewYork, supplying their website’s health sections with the latest advances against cancer. Over the course of our extensive research on the topic of breast cancer, we came across your blog and I found it to have a plethora of great information and I believe it would be very appealing to our readers. We’ve recently launched a program to identify and publcizie someof the top breast cancer-related blogs on the web. As such, I’d like to congratulate you as your blog has been selected as one of Empowered Doctor’s Top Breast Cancer Blogs. I’ve included the code below which will allow you to copy and paste it into your site in order to display your award badge. Again, I’d like to congratulate you on your selection, and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Additionally, be sure to visit both CBSNewYork.com/health (on the right hand side under advances against cancer) and ChicagoTribune.com/health (and then click the cancer central tab) to see the continuous work we do for the fight againstcancer.
One of the perks of being selected an Empowered Doctor Top Blog is being featured on a dedicated page on our website, as well as being profiled in upcoming articles. We would greatly appreciate you displaying your award badge, as many of our other nominees have. A few examples are: http://breastcancerbydrruddy.com/ ,
http://journeyingbeyondbreastcancer.com/ , and http://bethlgainer.blogspot.com/ .
Here is the code to display the award badge (simply copy and paste):
Again, congratulations on your selection and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Michael Foti
You’re brilliant beyond words, reading your blog whilst listening to Anneka Rice on R2 here in Tunbridge Wells has really made my day. Let’s give a big hand for Saturday!
Hey Laura, found this by accident and well done for being honest about what your journey has been like. Re wigs which was best? I want to get my mum a real hair wig but will need to do it without here? where did you find best in London? Keep up the good work!
Hi Sheryl, thanks for getting in touch. As far as I understand, real hair wigs cost about £1,000 and they’re a big hassle because you have to wash them all the time and then style them. If your mum is having chemo she might not be up to all that maintenance. I never had one though so just speaking from what I’ve heard. I got my not-real ones at Bloomsbury Wigs, which was really good – you can walk in and have a chat. They might have real-hair ones too. Otherwise Selfridges has v expensive real ones! If there is any possibility of taking your mum with you though, it might be best as it’s so hard to judge what might work and fit on someone else. Hope it goes well xx http://www.bloomsburywigs.com/
Hi Laura! I’m very inspired by your positive attitude and your insightful Huffpost articles! Thank you so much for sharing your journey. I joined a cause that’s very near to my heart since my mom lost her battle with cholangiocarcinoma and I hope to help others who are still fighting. I’ve joined One Day Apparel, created with the philosophy of living one day at a time, and would love to share the specialty garment with you to help you feel more comfortable during your treatments. Please check it out at http://www.onedayapparel.com/ and let me know what you think!