Inverness cancer survivor who found out about diagnosis while helping Ukrainian refugees in Poland retrains to be a personal trainer
As our Life After Cancer series continues, we want to introduce you to the remarkable Joanna Ewing.
After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022, Joanna (44) feared the worst. Having always avoided the ‘C-word’ for most of her life, she was suddenly thrust into the midst of a mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The mum of two, originally from Poland, moved here with her Highland-born husband nine years ago and finished her treatment in February 2023.
Speaking about receiving her diagnosis, Joanna said: “Overnight, I suddenly found a really big lump in my breast.
“I think a few years earlier, when I was dressing, I found a tiny lump, which terrified me, but the next day I couldn’t find it. I kind of wish I had put more effort in back then, but I never thought much about checking, as I assumed it wouldn’t happen to me.
“I went to see my GP, and she could feel it but suggested it might be hormonal and told me to come back in three weeks. It was the worst three weeks ever, as I knew it wasn’t hormonal. On reflection, I should have asked for a second opinion.
“I saw another GP and was then referred to a breast screening clinic. But the day after, I was flying to Poland to work with Ukrainian refugees.
“I decided to book a private clinic in Poland, as I knew I could do it there and get peace of mind. The day after I arrived in Warsaw, that’s when I found out it was most likely cancer, as there were changes to my lymph nodes.
“I felt so alone, as my family were all back home, although it was a relief to finally know. I decided to stay in Poland for a few weeks and do what I went there to do—work with the refugees.”
On May 20, 2022 in the UK, Joanna received confirmation that she had Stage 3 breast cancer, with a 12cm lump in her breast.
Despite the rigorous treatment, Joanna said that life after everything is finished can be the hardest.
“Going through it, there is a support system; you look like a cancer patient, and people ask how you are doing,” she said.
“Once you are finished, everyone thinks that you are cured. The life I have to live now is knowing it might come back. Before my diagnosis, I was one of those people who never got sick and never took a painkiller unless I was lying on the floor.
“Now, any kind of pain sets off anxiety, and I then have to sit with myself, talk to myself, analyse, and think—why is it sore? Oh, I did a workout yesterday! I have to rationalise and calm myself down because if I don't, I can end up in an unhealthy place and get very upset.”
The changes to her body were also a massive adjustment for a while after her treatment, with the mastectomy not being the way she had originally wanted it to go. However, since then, Joanna has come to love and revere her body.
She said: “I wanted a double mastectomy, as I knew I didn’t want reconstruction.
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“I thought I would feel odd with one breast, and the NHS doesn't do a double. Although I found out a week before my surgery that I maybe could have done it if I had seen a psychologist, who could confirm I was of sound mind to make that choice. But I found out too late; otherwise, I would have done that from the start.
“When you leave the hospital, you get ‘a softie’ and a free prosthesis. But I found it really hard to wear and decided it wasn’t for me.
“I was putting my bra on, having to put one heavy thing on the other side first. I was playing dress-up for someone else’s benefit—to look like I fitted in.
“I spent so many years being mean to my own body and comparing myself to everyone.
“But then cancer—and especially chemo—taught me that there is so much more to me than this outside shell. My body is an amazing thing; it can heal and restore itself.
“The silver lining from cancer was accepting my body. I feel more confident now than I did back then, as I know my body went through so much, and I want to look after it.”
Alongside embracing her body, Joanna has also had a career change since her breast cancer treatment.
Having originally been an early years practitioner, supply teacher, and a baker, she is now a personal trainer—aiming to specialise in cancer rehabilitation.
“While I was going through treatment, I decided I wanted to stay active, as I knew that would help with recovery,” Joanna explained.
“When doing radiotherapy, I decided I wanted to join the gym, which terrified me because I had never been in a gym before.
“But they say that keeping active reduces your chance of recurrence, so for me, I want to do all I can to make sure it doesn’t come back—and if it does, I can say, ‘Well, I did everything.’
“I joined the gym in January 2023 out of fear—to stop it from coming back. But then, after a couple of months, I realised I enjoyed lifting heavy things.
“That’s where it all started. I wanted to find a personal trainer who had experience with cancer patients because I wasn’t sure what I could and couldn’t do after just having surgery.”
Joanna went searching for a personal trainer in Inverness who specialised in helping cancer patients, but she couldn’t find anyone. That’s when the idea for her to do it was born.
With the help of a placement through Highland Council at High Life Highland at the leisure centre, she was funded to complete her Level 2 gym instructor qualifications, which she finished in October last year.
Since then, she has completed Level 3, which she finished in January this year, and is now working at the gym several days a week.
She said: “The next stage is doing the cancer rehabilitation course in April, so I can get the cancer specialist qualification.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself! If you had told me in my 20s that I would be a PT, I would have laughed, as I hated exercise!
“Going through cancer myself, I think, will help me connect with other patients. Obviously, we all experience it differently, but we all know the drill.
“I believe that movement—exercise of any kind—is a privilege.
“In my life before cancer, I used exercise to punish my body for eating too much. But cancer taught me that it’s not that ‘I have to’, ‘I should’, or ‘I need to’ exercise, but rather ‘I get to’ and ‘I can’!
“It’s something not everyone gets to do!
“I am a PT, but I too have days when I don’t feel like going for a run when it’s dark, cold, and damp outside—or when I’m tired and would rather go straight home after work than stay in the gym to do my own workout.
“But in those moments, I remind myself of just how able my body is to move, and it always helps me to go out there and celebrate that with a good run or a strength session.”
She said that when she first received her diagnosis, she thought she wouldn’t see another Christmas. But now, she is living her life to the fullest.
Joanna added: “I think there is life after cancer. It’s not easy—it’s hard, and there are times when I feel really anxious.
“But one of my favourite C.S. Lewis quotes reminds me of cancer.
“It is:
‘If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that), but they need not dominate our minds.’
“It’s just so similar to cancer: I don’t want to sit here and wait—I want to live my life to the full!”
