Nikki Tapper interview for Stand Up to Cancer

2 October 2014

The following feature is available free for reproduction in full or in part.

 

Gogglebox contributor Nikki Tapper talks poignantly about her own fight against breast cancer three years ago and why she is so delighted to be involved in the Stand Up To Cancer campaign.

How do you feel about being involved in the campaign?

I am thrilled. It is amazing and I am so proud.

 

Why is the Stand Up To Cancer campaign important to you?

I had breast cancer three years ago. I have unfortunately been down the whole treatment and chemotherapy route. I have also had a mastectomy. Cancer Research UK is a charity very close to my heart and that is why I want to get involved in supporting the Stand Up To Cancer campaign. For me, this is a way of raising awareness, money and helping other people. Thank God I have been lucky. I am also really positive had amazing support from my family and friends. It’s really important to me that I can help others.

 

What went through your mind when you were told you had breast cancer?

You do fear the worse. My mum had breast cancer ten years before me but she didn’t have to have chemo. She had the lump removed then had radiotherapy. My parents did protect us at the time and they assured us she would be fine. I found a lump on holiday. I felt physically sick. We were coming home two days later as otherwise we would have come home there and then. My husband kept saying it was nothing but I had this gut feeling. I went to the doctors and then I went for a mammogram. I then had to wait over the weekend to find out the results. Not knowing is the worst part. So many things go through your mind. I was very unlucky. I had three lumps in one breast. But once told, you don’t have a choice. You have to get on with it and you suddenly find yourself on a conveyer belt.

 

Were you determined to beat it?

Once my breast surgeon told me it was not too aggressive and it was treatable, I knew that I wanted them to do whatever they needed to do. I was 38 at the time and because I was young, they told me to have chemo. It was horrendous. I am not going to tell you it wasn’t. But again, you get on with it. I had treatment every three weeks - six lots each time. I had the breast removed first and then I had chemo, as it was a precautionary measure in case a rogue cell had escaped. Once that all finished, I had a reconstruction.

 

What kept you going?

My kids and my husband. I knew that I had to be really positive. I knew that everyone around me would have fallen apart if I didn’t. I was very honest with them. In private, I used to get quite depressed. When I was having chemo, I had to go to bed for six days and I literally couldn’t move. I would be in bed for six days and then I would get myself up. It was like a light switch flicking. I’d then go out for lunches and I would have a fabulous time for two weeks. I’d over-indulge. Then it would be the chemo again. But I kept counting the chemo sessions down.

 

Did you lose your hair?

Yes I lost my hair. I thought losing the hair process would be much more traumatic than it was. When I first started doing Gogglebox, my hair was short. Before then I actually had very long, curly thick hair, which is growing back to normal now. For my friends and the kids, it was the biggest thing. Did I wear wigs? No I didn’t. My hair came out very gradually. It wasn’t until my last treatment that I actually just had the whole lot shaved off. Psychologically I think that helped, as I wanted to keep hold of it. My eyelashes didn’t disappear completely and that made a difference.

 

 

Do you now have regular check-ups?

I go every three months for check-ups. I don’t think about it on a day-to-day basis but it never leaves you. It’s two and a half years now since I had the chemo. I don’t live in fear that it will come back. In life, anything can happen. Nobody knows what is going to happen to them. You have to live life to the full. I feel lucky mine was treatable.

 

Have you changed your lifestyle or life?

No. I am always positive and I am an upbeat person. I haven’t changed at all. I always say to Jonathan ‘don’t waste your life’. My fear was that he was going to have a major breakdown over it all and I told him not to worry. But I have become more outspoken since having cancer! I will tell someone if they are upsetting me whereas I used to let a lot of things pass me by!

 

Will you make your daughter, Amy, go for checks?

Definitely! We have been tested for the genetic testing and it turns out that I am the only person in my immediate family that hasn’t got a fault in the BRCA gene. My cancer has nothing to do with the fact mum had it. I am not responsible for passing it to Amy. She will still be checked though. My mum’s sister, my first cousin and my brother all had the testing and they all have a fault in that gene. But I am the one who had the cancer and doesn’t have a mistake in the gene! It is such a lottery.

 

It’s such a horrible disease…

Really horrible. A lot of people do still go ‘omg the big c word’. It is horrendous how many women get breast cancer. Thank God there are lots of amazing treatments now available thanks to research and lots of good stories. Sadly, every family has been touched by cancer in some way. Hopefully we can raise lots of money. There needs to be more prevention and hopefully one day, we can find an alternative to chemo, kinder, better treatments which I know are being researched..

 

You are a very positive person…

You don’t have a choice. I do believe that your mental attitude has a major effect on how you deal with it physically. If you have a positive attitude, you fight it better rather than if you give up and go into a hole. My friends and family were so positive.

 

And finally how has Gogglebox changed your life?

It is nuts! It is surreal and completely insane. Each series gets bigger and bigger. They never make us look stupid and it’s a really fun show. I love it. It’s so heart-warming and entertaining.

 

Stand Up to Cancer is on Channel 4 on Friday 17th October from 7pm.