Suffolk doctor's 'gritty and real' breast cancer exhibition plan

Liz O'Riordan found being photographed was empowering for a "lop-sided uni-boober"

A "gritty and real" art project aims to shed light on the emotions of those living with breast cancer.

It is the idea of former Suffolk breast cancer surgeon Dr Liz O'Riordan, 45, who had a mastectomy in 2015 and a recurrence of the disease in 2018.

Looking back at topless photographs taken of her while undergoing chemotherapy, and again last year, was "empowering and therapeutic", she said.

She hopes to create a photographic exhibition showing others' "journeys".

Dr O'Riordan was initially unsure when her husband suggested a photo shoot.

"But I look at those pictures - I see the haunted look in my eyes when I didn't know what would happen, whether I would lose my breast - and I see how far I have come," she said.

"I realise I'm still me. I'm still a beautiful, strong woman. It's been empowering, and for me, very therapeutic.

"I'm a lop-sided uni-boober - but I'm owning this."

The difference between this 2019 shot and the "haunted" look of 2015 was "therapeutic", she said

With photographer Alex Kilbee, she plans to create a "gritty and real" exhibition featuring women and men who have, or have had, breast cancer.

"There's no pressure to go nude, but we hope to show the reality of living with this - not fake, no props, not forced - the good, the bad and the ugly," she said.

"I hope people will just come, be, and feel."

The surgeon from near Bury St Edmunds made the "emotionally very hard" decision to give up operating a year ago when radiotherapy left her with reduced movement in her shoulder, but she still works one day a week as a medical reviewer at West Suffolk Hospital.

She is also writing a second book about the disease, speaks publicly about her experiences and is an ambassador for the social enterprise Working with Cancer.