Coco is Renate's best friend.
She has written down her story about being afraid of breast cancer.

“I'm Coco and I'm 16 years old.
I went with my brother and mother to a sail holiday in the summer of 2005. My breast became inflamed. It started to get red and warm and I got the flu. We needed to go home, and we made an appointment with the family doctor. She didn't know what it could be, but there was a lump in my breast.”

“I was very afraid, because my grandmother has had breast cancer before. So it is in the family. The doctor has called me every day to ask me whether the flu has dropped yet. I had to make an appointment with the hospital to make an echo. I did this, and I had to wait for a week to hear about the results. They told me that it wasn't cancer. It seemed to be two cysts. Many women have these without knowing it. It isn't malignant so nothing to worry about. The cause of the inflamed breast was a cyst which became inflamed.”

“The doctor already gave me antibiotics so the inflaming was gone. I had the choice to remove the cysts, but the chance was very low that I would get complaints of it. So I choose to keep them, also because I didn't want to get a scar of it. I have to say that I was very scared, especially due to the fact that the cancer is in the family. You start to think in a different way about things. It was a real relief. Nowadays I have to go to the hospital twice a year, in case it becomes inflamed again."

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