‘I lost my hair and had to quit PSNI, but it’s a small price to pay in cancer battle’

However a cruel twist of fate meant her determination was required elsewhere, to get through a highly traumatic chapter in her life which ultimately led to an untimely end to her career with the PSNI.

In the space of four weeks the 53-year-old went through two surgeries to remove two different types of cancer from her right breast. During the second operation another tumour that had not been spotted was removed “by luck”.

Wendy first found a lump on the evening of December 15, 2016 while watching TV at home with her husband Nigel.

Up until then the Co Down mother of two had been on top of the world: “I turned 50 in September 2016. I’d never felt as well in all my life. Nigel and I celebrated my birthday with a lovely 12-night Mediterranean cruise.

“In December our two boys were home from university for Christmas. It was December 15, the nest was full. I was prepping for Christmas. Everyone was happy, I felt great, life was good.

“Nigel and I were lying in the family room watching a movie, I had a strange feeling in my right shoulder. I ran my hand down my chest onto my breast and found a lump.

“I said to Nigel to feel it. I joke about this, he never misses an opportunity.

“He couldn’t feel anything. A while later I could still feel the sensation. I know my body. I knew it shouldn’t be there. Next time he felt the lump. Calmly as he does he said, ‘I think maybe you should see the doctor in the morning’.”

Her GP recommended a mammogram: “I got an appointment on the Monday night at the Ulster Independent Clinic. I was due to start nightshift on the Friday night, for three nights, three 12-hour shifts. I went to work and I did the three night shifts. I didn’t say to anyone, Nigel was the only one who knew I’d found a lump.

“I didn’t know then that would be my last shifts with the police service.”

On the Monday night Wendy and Nigel went to the Ulster Clinic for a mammogram which did not pick up anything untoward.

Wendy then had an ultrascan and a biopsy which revealed what she had sensed since December 15, that she had breast cancer.

She said: “My world stopped turning at that point. I looked at Nigel and he was as white as a ghost. We were the last ones in the Ulster Clinic that night.”

She said: “Before my diagnosis I just thought breast cancer was breast cancer. I’ve learnt so much. I was diagnosed with ER+ invasive ductal breast cancer. What that means is my cancer is driven by oestrogen.

“At that stage it was going to be a lumpectomy where they remove the tumour and a wide margin around the tumour. They take out your sentinel lymph node to see if it’s travelled to your lymph nodes. They would also be taking some tissue shavings.”

She was scheduled for surgery on the January 23, 2017: “I still had it in my head that we’ll get all that done, get the radiotherapy and I’ll be back to work in three months.

“The big girl will be back to work.”

The results were given to Wendy and her husband on February 8: “It was the worst news ever. I was told that whilst the surgery was a success and they got the tumour away they’d found more cancer, a different type of cancer in the same breast – ductal carcinoma in situ. That’s where the cancer is still inside the ducts but it hasn’t broken out yet. The problem was they couldn’t tell how far it had spread.

“At that point I was given the choice of whether or not to have my breast removed. For me that was the only option.

“Our world probably stopped turning that day as well.”

Wendy was scheduled for surgery on February 20, four weeks after the first surgery: “They took the breast away and gave me an implant. The surgeon came to my bedside to give me the results. Again he said the operation had went well, but they found a second tumour, it was the same type as the first one they’d removed.

“It was in same breast, round the side. It was the pathologist who found it when dissecting the tissue that had been removed. It had been removed by luck, they didn’t even know it was there.”

Wendy, who is a member of Banbridge Road Presbyterian Church in Dromore, said: “I’ve a really strong faith and I think God was looking after me. I dread to think where I would have been if I’d only had a lumpectomy.”

Instead of getting radiotherapy, Wendy now required chemotherapy.