A Story to Put Things Into Perspective
“It is being honest about my pain that makes me invincible.”
Today, we have something a bit different in the email blog. I’d like to tell you the inspirational and moving story of Laura Marginson, a friend of mine and a member of Female Lawyers’ Club.
It’s such a noisy week online this week, what with Black Friday and all. This story will remind you of what’s REALLY important in life. The rest is just noise.
Laura is a 34 year old Senior Associate at Hill Dickinson LLP in the Employment team in London. Laura had recently got married to Sam, a partner at Hill Dickinson, and had been promoted to Senior Associate. In 2023, Laura and Sam were joyfully expecting their first child and Laura had just reached the 36-week mark in her pregnancy.
However, Laura was about to receive a devastating diagnosis which would turn her world upside down.
Laura’s pregnancy had been smooth sailing, with every appointment bringing good news. Late on in her pregnancy, Laura had found a lump in her breast, which she wasn’t really worried about at first. Laura sought advice from her GP, who had reassured her that it was likely just a part of being pregnant: “your breasts change so much during this time anyway”. After two weeks, Laura returned and both Laura and the GP agreed that the lump had grown. The GP recommended that, to be on the safe side, Laura go for a scan and a biopsy.
Laura wasn’t too worried because she’d had a lump before and it had turned out to be nothing. So Laura went to the hospital appointment fully expecting to be told it was another false alarm.
When Laura and Sam went to see the consultant at the hospital, they received the words they never expected to hear: “I’m sorry to say that it’s cancer.” Laura was told that she had stage 2, grade 3 breast cancer and they needed to take immediate action to treat Laura given that the lump had grown so quickly. In less than a week of this shocking diagnosis, Laura had a Caesarean section to deliver the baby so that Laura could commence chemotherapy.
Aurora Rose was born on 14 November 2023. Laura and Sam had planned a playlist so that their baby could be born to their favourite music. Laura had been delighted that the Beatles had recently released a song which was number 1 in the charts when Aurora was born.
Just three weeks after giving birth, Laura began chemotherapy. “They wanted to give me some time to bond with my baby before starting chemo,” she explained. The urgency to recover quickly propelled Laura to push through her physical limits. “I knew I had to recover quickly. I didn’t let myself do the recovery you’re meant to. I just got up and got on with it,” she said.
The hospital had advised her to undergo the chemotherapy first to try and shrink the lump before she had surgery. Laura had 12 rounds of chemotherapy which would ordinarily have caused her to lose all her hair. However, Laura bravely opted to use a “cold cap” during chemo to preserve her hair, which was an ordeal in itself. The cold cap involves wetting your hair and then freezing your head to minus 5 degrees for half an hour before and after the chemo and during the treatment itself. The oncologist told Laura that most people couldn’t stand it as it was too painful, and yet Laura managed to endure it throughout her treatment.
“It’s like someone freezing your head, but if you get through the first 15 minutes, it just goes numb,” Laura said.
Despite this, Laura did still lose some of her hair and all her eyebrows and eyelashes. However, the eyelashes grew back quickly, which gave her hope in the midst of all the pain and uncertainty.
The chemotherapy worked well, to the extent that by the middle of chemo, Laura couldn’t even feel the lump anymore. Laura laughed when telling me that, before starting each round of chemo, the nurses ask how you’re feeling, to check if you’re well enough to have the treatment. They ask how tired you are but in Laura’s case there was little point: of COURSE she was tired – she’d just had a baby! So they got on with it anyway.
Aurora slept most of the time after her birth. Laura had to set alarms to wake her up to feed her, which only compounded the exhaustion.
Laura and Sam had arranged for building work to be carried out on their home and so temporarily moved in with Laura’s parents a week after Aurora was born. This proved to be a blessing as Laura’s mum could help look after both Laura and Aurora. “Mum has basically been a second mum to her,” Laura said. This support allowed Laura to focus on her recovery and chemotherapy while ensuring her daughter was well cared for.
Sam, Laura’s husband, also faced immense challenges. The emotional toll was significant, and he found himself crying more than ever before. The stress and worry about Laura’s health and their newborn were overwhelming, yet Sam’s support remained steadfast. “I’d never seen him cry before, but now he could cry at anything,” Laura shared, highlighting the profound impact the journey had on both of them.
Despite everything that’s happened, Laura doesn’t describe herself as a particularly brave person: “I’m an absolute wuss!” She told me how she hates needles and has always struggled with having any sort of medical treatment. Despite this, she realised she had no choice but to face it head on: “It was just a roadblock which I had to get on with if I wanted to move on with my life. Now it just feels like a dream … or a nightmare...”
Laura’s chemotherapy was followed by a mastectomy and reconstruction, followed by 15 sessions of radiotherapy. She finished her treatment in August 2024 but plans to have the other breast removed next year as a preventative measure.
Laura said Hill Dickinson have been very understanding and have put her under no pressure to return to work straight away. Laura will commence a phased return to work in May next year.
I pointed out to Laura that surely having this experience will redefine the meaning of a difficult experience for the rest of her life – surely the usual pressures of a legal job will affect her less from now on!
Laura’s story is a powerful reminder of what really matters in life: if we have our health, we are lucky beyond measure and having family and community there to support us is so important.
Laura received her care and treatment from The Christie Hospital, in a local centre in Wigan, near where she lives. Laura has nothing but praise and gratitude for the care she received from the NHS.
“They made it so I could fit treatment around Aurora as much as possible, rather than the other way round. I brought her in to see them on the last day, and they were so happy to see her, it was quite an emotional moment. I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done for me.”
Laura’s husband Sam and 16 of their friends and family decided to raise money and run the Manchester Half Marathon for The Christie Charity, raising an incredible £12,000.
Laura has set up an Instagram account to raise awareness of breast cancer – you can follow her at @mybadboob.
Here’s a picture of Laura celebrating Aurora’s first birthday earlier this month. How gorgeous is this picture!
Credit: Jo Bishop Photography
Thank you so much Laura for generously sharing your story.
I hope you found Laura’s story as inspiring as I did. You can donate to Laura and Sam’s fundraising page for the Christie charity here:
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Rachel