Donna said: "When I was first diagnosed with breast cancer, like anybody else would be, I was in a state of shock and denial. I felt very isolated, but I was shy about asking for help.  After a few months I plucked up the courage to visit the Glasgow Maggie Centre. It was a huge step forward for me. It really is as warm, friendly and helpful as its reputation.  I picked up lots of information, and joined the writing group led by Larry Butler. It helped me so much to express my feelings in writing, alongside other people going through the same treatments who were experiencing the same side effects and similar emotional traumas.  Maggie's is a peaceful and calming place, more like a home than an office, where support, laughter and green tea flow freely all day.
 
"That year, I volunteered to help out at the Walk for Life. My job was too cheer people on at the finish line. I had my little video camera with me, so I filmed lots of people completing their walk - many of whom were just like me, still going through treatment and wearing a wig. That's when I first had the idea to make a film about breast cancer and breast reconstruction. It's called My New Breast, and you can watch it on BBC TWO Scotland at 9pm on 14th September."

Murray Easton from Maggie’s Centres says: “I was invited to a Q & A session at the BBC Scotland studios and I was lucky to see some clips from the documentary. There are some incredibly moving scenes and I think it will really open people’s eyes to the reality of a diagnosis and a journey through cancer.”

“I do hope that Maggie’s supporters will tune in to watch Donna’s documentary.”

My New Breast
Monday 14 September
BBC Two Scotland, 9.00-10.00pm
“It is the illness every woman dreads,“ is the opening line of this new documentary about breast cancer.

But the underlying message of this programme is hope, particularly for Scottish women.

In the UK generally, about one in ten women are offered reconstructive surgery in the wake of breast cancer treatment, but for patients who come within the remit of the Canniesburn Plastic Surgery Unit – and the cancer surgeons they collaborate with - it is more like one in three.

My New Breast follows the story of three Scottish women, literally having their breasts – and lives –rebuilt in the wake of this cancer.
Gail (44), from Prestwick, is a nurse who is used to helping patients at Crosshouse hospital in Kilmarnock.  In the wake of her diagnosis, she finds herself a patient in the hospital where she works.

As she copes with the fallout literally and psychologically from chemo, Gail says: “I still think nah, it’s not me, it’s somebody else. It’s a strange feeling. And I look in the mirror and think that’s not me looking back.”

Hairdresser Katie (27), from Kilmarnock, has already battled leukaemia in her teens and is now coping with breast cancer. She has already had surgery to move a muscle from her back to become a new breast, and is undergoing cosmetic finishing.  

The reconstructive surgery, and the recovery, isn’t a walk in the park but as Katie says: “It was really hard but it had to be done, so I could still feel like I’m a woman, that I’ve not lost my womanhood.”

Keep fit fanatic Karen (42), from Torrance, underwent a mastectomy three years ago and is now having  a new breast made from her own tummy tissue.

In the wake of her surgery, she jokes: “It’s weird to think my stomach's stuck on there.”

The programme follows the three women – and the doctors helping them - through from their home lives to doctors’ meeting, scans, chemotherapy and into the operating theatre.

Film-maker Donna Blackney, who has herself gone through breast cancer and reconstructive surgery, says: “We had to think long and hard about the surgery scenes but in the end we felt it was important not to hold back.

“The women who have taken part in the programme are all remarkably candid and it didn’t feel right to then pull back on showing the surgery, which is afterall an incredibly positive thing happening here in Scotland.
“It is quite a thing to ask people to take part in a programme like this and I can’t thank Gail, Katie and Karen enough. There is a lot of emotion but viewers will also see a lot of strength and the good old Scottish sense of humour is very much in evidence.

“I hope other women, facing this, will take comfort from the programme – from seeing real people and how they cope in these circumstances - and generally that people will have a better understanding of the subject.”