You may have spotted Emi Lou Howe in various national newspapers and even through a brief appearance on Loose Women recently.
That’s because the mum-of-two from Helsby has made headlines as one of the faces of an M&S breast cancer campaign which she hopes will inspire other women battling the disease.
Emi’s breast cancer journey started when she underwent a mastectomy in 2012 after being diagnosed with the disease and shortly afterwards, decided to set up a personal blog called Mummy One Boob, documenting her treatment through pictures to help and encourage other sufferers.
Through her journey, Emi, who owns her own holistic therapy business in Helsby, says she started to fall in love with her body, and started to see it in a much more positive light. She decided to ask local photographer Jaine Briscoe-Price to take the photographs, and five years later - now in remission after another mastectomy, Emi joined six other breast cancer survivors to front a national fundraising campaign with M&S.
She had heard they were teaming up with Breast Cancer Now to raise £13million to fund scientific research to better understand the risk factors associated with breast cancer and was eager to take part.
It saw Emi and the other women, who she describes as ‘lifelong friends’ all modelling pink M&S bras which were then donated to Breast Cancer Now, with their images used across UK stores and the M&S website, as well as social media channels to promote the campaign.
“I wanted to raise money with my blog so I contacted M&S when I heard about their campaign to put myself forward,” Emi told The Chronicle. “I was so chuffed to get down to the last seven women and the whole experience has just been amazing. “I loved every moment and made some amazing and special friends. I feel so proud to be part of a campaign that symbolises that it is possible to feel good about yourself and your body, no matter what it has endured.
“After I had my first surgery I just had this feeling I should document my journey so I asked Jane to document every stage, because each one was so different and interesting and I wanted to show that, I wanted to show the whole story. Luckily Jane was eager and has done a fabulous job, I owe her so much.”
“Since my surgery I now am all about body positivity, I adore my body now. Weirdly I’ve gone from having a normal-ish body and not having any positivity to now loving my body in a way I never expected after having two mastectomies. I feel so much pride in my body, it’s always there and I’m so proud of it.”
Emi is now five years in remission. But despite this, she still felt uncertainty and worry that the cancer could come back, so it was because of this she decided to undergo another mastectomy .
“I wanted to be sure in my head that what was it, to draw a line under it and stop being afraid,” said Emi, who appeared in the audience of Loose Women last week talking about the campaign.
And Emi appeared also as an audience member on last week’s Loose Women talking about her experience and promoting the campaign which she said she felt ‘honoured’ to be a part of.
You can show your support for the M&S campaign here and read Emi’s blog here
Twenty percent of all pink bra sales from M&S go to Breast Cancer Now.
