My name is Aimee Conlon.
I attended the Look Good Feel Better workshop in September 2018. It was the second time I had been diagnosed with cancer. I was diagnosed the first time in 2002, aged thirteen with leukaemia. Then in May 2018, I found out that I had breast cancer. In a way I was prepared, I had my eyes wide open this time. I knew about losing my hair and eyebrows, I knew what to expect in terms of how I would feel and how I was going to deal with it, I chose not to wear a wig this time. It really wasn’t that big of a shock, I just got over the diagnosis and on with it. I wasn’t going to allow any of it, define me as a person.
I started treatment in July 2018, and my hair was completely gone within three weeks, even though I was prepared for the hair loss and how I would feel and react, I was not prepared for other people’s reactions. Complete strangers staring in shopping centres, sympathetic looks from people on the street to again complete strangers asking questions at functions making me feel quiet vulnerable and exposed.
Then I went to the Look Good Feel Better workshop in September. I was told about it by the daffodil nurse in St James’s she was amazing. The Look Good Feel Better workshop was like an immediate fix, it gave me a real boost. I got a complete toolkit on how to use make-up and disguise some of the side effects. I still use the techniques now. Before the Look Good Feel Better workshop I was afraid to use make up I didn’t want to cause further sensitivity to the skin etc but with the help of the lovely ladies in look good feel better that all changed. Now I feel like my make-up is my protective armour, the workshop made me more confident in my appearance and now I feel I can face the outside world a little better.
