Paulette
the reason
Paulette's text of the image translated: ''I was busy with my business when suddenly.... breast cancer...''
Paulette is 60 when malignant cells are found in her breast.
She's astounded when breast cancer is diagnosed. She can't feel a lump.
Her left breast 'hadn't been feeling right for some time'. Eventually she discovered a hard spot.
She had taken part in the population screening five times. 5x! How had it been missed?
Paulette turns out to have a protein sensitive cancer cell.
Her type spreads as strands in her breast. These can't be seen on mammograms.
Inconceivable.
It's unbelievable that this type of breast cancer can't be seen. This starts her partner Tom Sanders thinking.
It leads him to an out of the box idea: The Early Warning Scan for breast cancer (EWS).
On the 7th of November 2019 he wins the HTSM Kiemgeld with his idea.
The story of Paulette in 'Poppies'
Paulette has kept track of how her treatment process has gone.
During her treatment, she has provided feedback on social media in this way.
The metaphor for her breast cancer treatment is her favorite flower, the poppy.
Social media messages from 2019
These messages are only available in Dutch
Mijn uitzicht vanuit 'mijn prikstoel'.
Ook als je geplukt bent, ga je weer bloeien!
Borstkanker is een Russische roulette
Met klaprozen zet ik er een punt achter.
She later incorporated her notes into the book 'Poepen in het Park', the embarrassing side of breast cancer.
On the market from February 4, 2022
The book: "Pooping in the Park,"
The Embarrassing Side of Breast Cancer.
This book was launched on World Cancer Day, February 4, during the online event “Living with cancer live” on ED.nl. It is possible to watch this following the link 'Je kunt het terug hier kijken', but it is only available in Dutch: Je kunt het terug hier kijken.
Paulette describes how her personal story creates perspective for all women.
Publisher De Graaff, books that matter, publishes Paulette's book. It is available at every bookstore or book webshop.
It is also available in the YvYa webshop.
In the week leading up to February 4, she gave a preview of the book.
She reads three times.
The first round of reading.
Paulette starts reading where she notes that young women wrongly think that they are not at risk of breast cancer. She then reads from the first chapter “My guardian angel”. In this chapter she tells how she discovered her ‘hidden’ breast cancer.
The second round of reading.
Paulette reads from the chapter ‘Where is my taste?’
In it she describes how she is doing at the end of the first course of treatment.
After 12 rounds of chemotherapy and 4 double infusions of immunotherapy.
The third reading round.
Paulette starts reading on the day that the idea of the EWS wins a prize at Holland High Tech.
It is the same day that Yvonne announces that she is going to die from breast cancer.
Finally, Paulette explains in the epilogue why the development of the Early Warning Scan EWS is so urgently needed.
Immortalized in ink
For the December special 2021 of the magazine Zin, Paulette was interviewed. The article is only available in Dutch and can be found following this link: here.
07-05-2022 In response to a Facebook post, Antoon Driessen wrote this poem (only available in Dutch).
You can read the stories from Yvonne and Hülya by selecting their stories in the menu.
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