A lot of the things that happened to me came out of the blue, but I'm exactly the same person now as I was when I was sick. I'm still a very optimistic person.

I used to wear these big shapeless clothes and ended up just looking like a potato in a sack. I've learnt now to accentuate the bits that I'm happiest with. That's probably my waist - a lot of my clothes go in at the waist and emphasise my hips, which I'm very proud of.

After the cancer-free diagnosis, I thought I'd go off and do the things I never did in my teens and twenties. I realised putting things off in life can be dangerous because suddenly you can find you've run out of time.

Three women in my family, close relatives, have had breast cancer, and two have died from it, and still I never thought it could happen to me. I didn't even regularly check my breasts.

Sometimes life limits your choices - rising tuition costs may put university out of reach, or like me, personal circumstances might simply make it difficult to complete your education.

For me, growing up felt like a roller coaster ride at times, but looking back, I don't think that it was such a bad thing. It was all part of the excitement of being young.