Susan Berry is a 52-year-old breast cancer survivor, who comes from a family with a history of breast cancer.

I was 44 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. As both my aunts and two sisters had been previously diagnosed with it, I was being regularly monitored to ensure that if I did get breast cancer it was picked up early. It worked, my condition was spotted as a result of one of my annual ultrasound tests.

As a result of my family’s experience, I felt a mixture of anxiety, yet familiarity with the situation and I had a real sense of having to get on with it.

I count myself as one of the lucky ones. My treatment was extremely rapid. I had a lumpectomy and some lymph glands removed followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy and then was also put onto tamoxifen treatment straight away.

During this time I felt confident I was doing all I could to battle the cancer and was reassured that it had been caught and treated so quickly. I was also happy at how advanced treatment had become for breast cancer since the days when my aunts and sisters went through the same thing.

Towards the end of my five years of tamoxifen treatment I was offered the opportunity to take part in a trial at the Royal Marsden Hospital, where I was being looked after. I agreed as I thought that I should go for it and be a guinea pig for other women that may benefit. When the trial ended, I found out that I’d been in the placebo group, but I had not suffered any recurrence of my breast cancer.

It has now been eight years since I developed cancer and I‘m reassured as each year goes by without any recurrence.

I have not let having breast cancer stop me from living my life. I enjoy running and have trekked in Peru to raise money for the Royal Marsden. At the moment I feel very well and have a positive outlook on life. With my family history, I do occasionally worry about my daughter and nieces, but feel they are a very breast aware generation.