Rotorua woman shares part of her breast cancer journey through Dear Boobs book

Rotorua's Joanna White has written one of the letters in the <i>Dear Boobs</i> book. Photo / Stephen Parker

A Rotorua woman has penned her thoughts and feelings from her breast cancer journey through letter-writing, as part of a nationwide initiative.

A book full of letters by women to their "wobbly womanly body parts" has been winging its way around the world during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The book, called Dear Boobs, features 100 letters written by women affected by breast cancer, who have undergone surgery.

It is the initiative of Emily Searle, a Tauranga breast cancer survivor. The book formed The Dear Boobs Project.

Rotorua woman Joanna White, whose breast cancer journey began in February 2016, has written one of those 100 letters.

She says she heard about the Dear Boobs letters through Facebook.

"I was going through treatment at the time and the first thing that came into my mind was my children.

"I wanted them to know everything will be alright, and I will rebuild myself and come back a stronger women."

As part of her journey with Dear Boobs, she volunteered to deliver the books around Rotorua.

Eight copies were accepted and delivered free of charge to places which were nominated by local women, she says.

From her journey, her advice to other breast cancer patients is to kia kaha - stay strong, be positive, be aware of your body signs and make sure your health checks are up-to-date.

"Early detection is so important.

"As written in the book, share wisdom, inspire healing and celebrate hapori (community)."

Emily Searle says Dear Boobs was prompted by how she cannot always hear what she thinks until she reads what she writes, so a week before her surgery to have a double mastectomy in 2017 she wrote a letter to her boobs as a kind of farewell.

"At the time I felt the immediate relief of letting the uncensored words pour out, but it was only afterwards I realised how much the writing had helped me."

She says her journey with breast cancer has been long, slow and life changing.

Emily says a breast cancer diagnosis does not end when the boobs come off, and that is something she wanted to highlight with the Dear Boobs book.

"The aftermath can be the hardest part.

"I wanted the women in that aftermath in particular to feel supported, that they are part of a sisterhood who know how it is, and be able to grasp their journey with a little more clarity and self-love.

"I want families and supporters to 'get it' a little more so they can support in the best way they can."

She says she felt overwhelmed at first when so many letters came in from women.

"Receiving 100 Dear Boobs letters from around the world in just over 100 days from when I started the Facebook page confirmed what I thought when I began the project, and reassured me that this was my new purpose.

"To share 1000 books with recipients was where the real power of Dear Boobs would be seen and felt."

She says she was impatient and excited to get the copies out there with the help of almost 100 volunteers around the country, including Rotorua's Joanna.

Her hopes for the book include starting conversations about body positivity after breast cancer related surgery and sharing wisdom.

She says every month should be breast cancer awareness month for women.

"I think what October BCAM does best is that it gives a platform to the aspects of breast cancer, and particularly terminal breast cancer, and brings the conversations to the mainstream arena."

Dear Boobs can be bought from www.thedearboobsproject.com.