YIOTA Eleftheriou was just 34 when she was told she had breast cancer.
“In that second; I thought my world was ending. I thought it was all over. All I could think about was my children and that I had to go to a lawyer to sign the house over to them,” she said.
Today, exactly two years and two months on, she can’t believe that she is the same person as she was then.
“Looking back, I was thinking crazy things,” she said.
The mother of three said breast cancer had changed her life – for the better.
“In the beginning, I said: ‘Why me? Why this?’ Now, and I mean it when I say it, I say: ‘Why not me?’”
Yiota said her experience had taught her to approach life differently and to see people differently.
“It’s taught me a lot. I’m glad it happened to me because I’ve met so many women who need each other and help each other. It’s made me more human and more sensitive towards people. I like this about me. It’s made me especially sensitive to other young women who have breast cancer.”
She said she had also come out stronger from her experience and that it made her a better person.
“Everything has changed. The way I think, my approach to work, to life, with my children, with my husband. The change is for the better.”
The details were no longer important, she said.
“I look at the bigger picture now and matters of substance.”
Yiota was diagnosed with breast cancer on August 4, 2006.
“I found a lump in my right breast and thought nothing of it. I happened to mention it to a colleague of mine who said I should go and see a surgeon immediately,” she said.
The 34-year-old, who lost her maternal aunt to breast cancer three years ago, said her colleague’s warning frightened her.
“My aunt was 34 when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer. The same age as me. I thought there was no salvation for me. I thought cancer was my death sentence. Now I know differently.”
The next day she went to her gynaecologist who confirmed she had a lump that needed further investigation. Less than a week later she was in surgery to remove a malignant tumour.
“I know now that I acted very quickly. I could have waited a bit longer but I was so shocked and couldn’t stop crying. I just wanted this cancer cut out of me. I didn’t want to feel I had cancer on me.”
Yiota said her surgery was followed by four months of aggressive chemotherapy and 35 sessions of radiotherapy. Thankfully she didn’t lose her hair.
“I just couldn’t imagine myself without hair. I couldn’t accept it psychologically.”
To avoid losing her hair she wore cold caps and cut her hair to shoulder length. It worked.
Yiota also contacted Europa Donna Cyprus, where she said she received a lot of support and guidance from its president Stella Kyriakides.
“She really helped me get back on my feet. She taught me cancer doesn’t mean death and that early diagnosis saves lives and that there are treatments available.”
In her case, she had been “lucky in her misfortune” and diagnosed in the cancer’s first stages.
“I made no secret that I had cancer and told everyone straightaway. I got a lot of support from my family, my friends and my colleagues,” she said.
She said it was her children, aged 11, eight and five, that gave her the strength to get better.
Although the type of breast cancer she had was not hereditary, she remains concerned for her two girls.
“Now I talk to them and tell them that when they are older they have to check their breasts and look for lumps,” she said.
Yiota said that she now took better care of herself.
“In the past I would neglect to go to the doctor. Now I go for my regular check ups when I’m supposed to. If I feel tired, or I have a pain in my breast or arm I’ll go to the doctor immediately,” she said.
She also ate more healthily and exercised, she said.
And what about the future?
Well, for now she is focusing on staying healthy and following her treatment but, if her doctor will allow it, she’d like another child.
“I thought I didn’t want another child but now I would like another baby. We’ll see. Once I’ve finished these pills I’m on which I have to take for five years and if it’s OK and I can, then I will consider it,” she said.
