A young cancer survivor is learning to love herself again after a doctor said she had a ‘bit of a steroid face’.
Becca Jones was 16 when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, an aggressive disease which requires years of treatment.
At first, she delayed going to a GP because she was looking after children at her church’s holiday club.
But just four hours after her blood test, doctors told her mum to take Becca to the hospital.
As well as fighting cancer, it was also the beginning of a long battle over her body image.
The very first thing Becca asked was: ‘What about my hair?’
She said: ‘Cancer and hair loss was such a big association for me, and I worried about how I’d look to other people.
‘But the most difficult thing for me was the weight gain.’
Becca said she was having an assessment when her mum asked if it was normal to have increased hunger.
She said: ‘[The doctor] looked at me and he said, “you’ve got a bit of a steroid face”.
‘I’d not even noticed it. I was horrified. I was so taken aback by it when I looked in the mirror as I then felt like a chipmunk.
‘It’s definitely had a lasting impact. As someone who always had problems with dieting and body image and weight loss and weight gain, I’m very conscious of my face and whether I look like a chipmunk.
‘Whenever someone makes eye contact, I always wonder whether they’re thinking that I look odd.’
After her treatment with the Teenage Cancer Trust’s unit in Southampton, she quickly lost two-and-a-half stone.
She said: ‘As I haven’t always had the most positive body image, I had to remind myself that the weight loss wasn’t a healthy situation.
‘Before my diagnosis I was really active and going to the gym all the time, but during my weight loss I was feeling really weak and helpless, as I felt like there was nothing I could do about the changes.’
Once her intensive chemotherapy finished, Becca needed another two years of ‘maintenance treatment’, taking tablets daily.
She said: ‘I was able to go back to college during this time but that was tough in some ways. Losing my hair really affected my confidence as it makes up a big part of how you look.
‘I didn’t realise how badly it would affect me. I didn’t mind having no hair or wispy hair as much when I was at the unit, but I wore a wig to college.
‘I took it off at one point and someone said: ‘Why don’t you keep it on for a bit longer.’ I think they meant if I was unsure about taking it off, but it had taken courage to take it off and it knocked my confidence.’
One day, Becca took off her wig and a pal said she ‘loved’ her hair.
She said: ‘It gave me such a boost and I remember it even now.
‘My hair grew back really differently and curly, and my friends all told me how much they loved my curls.’
Now 21 and starting a new job as a physiotherapist in a Canterbury hospital, she is taking part in the Teenage Cancer Trust’s campaign Still Me.
She said: ‘People don’t really understand the mental health impact of cancer.
‘While a lot of people understand the turmoil of cancer, the physical impacts, it can drastically change how you feel about yourself as a teenager.
‘Even though we’ve had cancer, we’re still the people we used to be.
‘We’re almost better as we’ve made it through adversity.’
Kate Collins, chief executive of the Teenage Cancer Trust, said: ‘People like Becca are sharing their experiences of how they coped and this will do so much to help other people facing similar issues.
‘We’re really proud and grateful she is part of our #StillMe campaign.’
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