TV Anchor Jane Hill, 51, Who Underwent a Secret Mastectomy Without Reconstruction, Celebrates ‘Two Years Clear’ from Breast Cancer

The journalist, who has worked with the UK network since 1991, had taken a six month hiatus from her news job following her diagnosis, which she didn’t address until May of 2019. “I didn't want to start talking about it on social media in case there was a hiccup,” she said. “It wasn't right for me for me to do updates.”

A few months later, Hill told ITV’s Lorraine Kelly she had decided against reconstruction surgery.

Related: For Breast Reconstruction After Mastectomy, Women May Choose 'Now,' 'Later,' or 'Never'

“I had a mastectomy in November. I decided against reconstruction surgery,” Hill told the host. “It wasn't right for me, a reconstruction requires multiple surgeries.” She didn’t want to deal with anymore anesthetic, and said she had a “massive great scar across my chest.”

Related: To Reconstruct or Not: After Mastectomy, Two Women Take Very Different Paths

A health fanatic, the host also mentioned a 25-year broccoli habit that seemed to have helped her with recovery, and described herself as a regular “gym-goer.”

Hill is married to Sara Shepherd, and the couple had received more bad news at the time of Hill’s diagnosis, when Sheperd’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer within the same month.

It’s Okay to Not Have Reconstruction

Going “flat” after removing one or both of your breasts is your choice, and no one else’s. Some breast cancer patients just want to be done with surgery, like Hill. And you only have to talk about it if you feel comfortable. Although it can help other women to talk about these topics openly and share your choices so that others may have informed decisions, it’s also perfectly acceptable to not want your co-workers to know what you are going through. In Hill’s case, she is in the public eye, so that feeling may have been amplified.

SurvivorNet spoke with another survivor who chose to embrace life without breasts. "I’m in this movement of being flat … a lot of us women are sticking together and helping each other through this journey of being this new look," says artist Marianne Cuozzo. "We're trying to make it so that it's not this stigma."

Cuozzo does a lot of photo shoots showing her scars. “And then all of a sudden, I’m sharing this with other people and they’re seeing this and encouraging them to take another step of maybe don’t get reconstruction.”

The Flat Movement: Embracing Your Body After Treatment

The Implant Route

If you decide to get implants, there are two options. Dr. Andrea Pusic from Brigham and Women’s Hospital tells SurvivorNet how each of these options work. using a breast tissue expander which is a two-step process, or direct-to-implant reconstruction which is completed at the same time as the mastectomy.

One option is a breast tissue expander, which is a two-step process. “The tissue expander is like a breast implant that goes in almost empty,” Dr. Pusic says. “It’s like a breast implant that goes in deflated with a little valve, that then we can gradually fill it over time.”

And then starting about two weeks after the mastectomy surgery, expansions begin. “We would be able to find the port, that’s just under the skin, using a magnet because it has a bit of metal in it.” A needle is put into the tissue expander, through the port. “It doesn’t hurt because the skin doesn’t have normal sensation,” she adds. “And then salt water, saline, is injected into the tissue expander. So it’s like we’re filling it gradually over time, every one to two weeks,” which stretches out the skin and prepares the breast area for the implants.

The other approach is implant reconstruction where the implant is placed at the same time as the mastectomy, called direct implant. “The patient that is an ideal candidate for that is a patient who has quite small breasts because, in that situation, we’re putting in a small implant and we’re not going to put a lot of pressure on the skin,” she says. Another ideal candidate is someone who is having no skin removed.

Implant Reconstruction After a Mastectomy The Options

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