Images: Instagram
When 27-year-old BBC presenter Claira Hermet tested positive to the BRCA1 gene, the decision to have a double mastectomy was but a tough but inevitable decision.
“The decision didn’t happen overnight. It was a long slog and I had to change myself first, to recognize that my breasts didn’t define me and if a man was going to leave me it wouldn’t be because I’d lost them,” Hermet, who is single, told the Daily Mail. “Of course, there have been times when I’ve got out of the shower, sat in front of the mirror and said, ‘Ah, I’m going to miss you two.’ But that’s not constructive and I don’t dwell on it.”
She had a mastectomy 30 minutes after giving birth.
Hermet lost her mother to breast cancer when she was nine, and her sister to the same disease two years ago.
“When I was nine years old my mummy died of breast cancer leaving a big hole in mine and my families lives. I know her death changed the course of our lives forever,” Hermet wrote on her blog.
“That’s not where my story with breast cancer ends because my big sister, who was my best friend, was diagnosed with breast cancer at 25 and died six-and-a-half years later after a gruelling battle with the disease.”
Christina Applegate discusses her reconstructed breasts.
Hermet is due to have a double mastectomy on the 21st January, and rather than dwell on losing her DD breasts, she threw them a farewell party.
The party featured boob cupcakes, bra selfies and other boob-themed merchandise.
“It was a night of drinking, dancing, celebrating and feeling loved and supported. Friends new and old turned up and I am so, so grateful to each & everyone of you,” Hermet wrote.
You can follow Hermet’s blog here and at the BBC, and donate to her nominated charity here.
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