“It was 5 a.m, on a boiling hot day in London, and I couldn’t sleep,“the Peloton instructortells PEOPLE exclusively. “It was two days before my best friend’s funeral and I was really anxious, and really hot. As I threw the covers off of me, my hand just grazed my left breast. And I felt a very obvious lump.”
“I got through the funeral and then Ben and I went on holiday for a week. And the whole time I was feeling for the lump. It wasn’t changing in size, but it was most definitely there. And my anxiety was just increasing and increasing.”
As soon as she got back, she went to see her doctor again and was sent to a breast cancer clinic. “I feel super lucky to have been able to do that because things have moved really quickly for me,” she says, adding that she realizes many people don’t have such access to care. Two mammograms were ordered, and it was quickly determined that she did not have a cyst.
Her official diagnosis of early triple positive breast cancer came on August 26, 2022. “It actually wasn’t the worst day of my life,” she says. “Losing my best friend was the worst day of my life, but this wasthe most shocked I’ve ever been. She remembers sitting next to her mom and Alldis at the breast clinic when she got the news, and feeling upset forthem. “When it’s happening to you, you’re actually worried about everybody else around you at that time,” she explains.
Before starting chemo in September, she and Alldis had a chance to do a round of IVF. “I felt really lucky that I was granted this window of being able to do one round of IVF, and to hope that something could come out of that, which it did,” she says. “For some couples, IVF will be the biggest thing that they ever do, but for us, IVF was something that we had to just get done before we went into the biggest thing that we’ll ever do.”
Her chemo treatment was 12 weeks long, and for most of that time shecontinued teaching 3-4 Peloton classes a week. None of the members knew about her condition. “I feel so proud of myself that I continued to show up,” she says. “And it wasn’t because I wanted people to say, wow, isn’t she amazing for doing this? It was because there are so many members that are going through their own struggles — and if they can make it to the bike, then so can I.”
She credits Alldis and her mom for helping her get though the worst days. “I think it is harder for the people around you, for the people that love you,” she says. “My mum every single week sat with me in my pod whilst I was having chemo, and Ben has been incredible. The support takes its toll on them as well. Those who surround you are trying to keep a brave face.”
While she and Alldis have had to delay their family planning, they have been able to add to their brood in another way: “We got a puppy, so that extra love that we felt we wanted to give is going there,” she says, laughing. “But my whole perspective on life is different. We’re taking this moment and making sure that we’re okay. It’s been a tough year. I think it’s important that we get ourselves back on track before we start thinking about bringing anyone else into that.”
In the meantime, they are taking things “very slow and kind and patient” while she continues to heal and regain her strength.
“For me to be able to get better just felt like such a privilege,” she says. “I remember a cancer nurse saying to me: Those things that you think about now will become so irrelevant even six weeks down the line. I wish I could pass on that knowledge: All the things that we think are important — hair, boobs, looks — when it really comes down to it, they’re just… not.”
source: people.com
