A HUGE sigh of relief was let out last week as Laurie Gallacher heard the news she had been waiting for.

The Dunfermline barber’s chemotherapy treatment is working.

Diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year, Laurie has been sharing her journey with Press readers to raise awareness and detail her days battling the illness.

Her first round of chemotherapy was on April 30 and she has had a further three rounds since.

The result of a recent scan to ascertain whether the treatment has been working was then delivered on Tuesday morning last week.

A delighted Laurie revealed to the Press: “The first thing my oncologist said was, ‘It’s good news’, or words close to that effect, as it was all such a blur.

“After the scan and leading up to the call, I was in limbo. I knew from feeling it that the tumour had shrunk but I got nervous and my mind went places it shouldn’t have gone ahead of the call as I didn’t know for sure.

“I could have burst into tears the moment she told me that the chemo was working and that the tumour had shrunk.

“That call could have gone one of two ways so I’m relieved.

“The tumour has shrunk, the lymph nodes have shrunk and the secondary breast cancer has also shrunk but that will need more scans in the future.

“The chemotherapy is doing everything it should be doing.”

Laurie, who has worked at New Row Barbers in Dunfermline for two decades, now has two further rounds of chemo ahead of her at a higher dosage with the first of the two scheduled for Friday last week (July 23).

After both treatments, further scans and a consultation will take place to determine how they will proceed with tackling the HER2, stage-three cancer.

The sixth and final round is also going to be pushed back one week to allow for some memory-making to take place with her young son, as Laurie explained: “Taylor starts high school soon and not having chemo then will let me make him his breakfast on his first day and take him to school, take some photos and have that morning with him.

“I want to do that as you don’t get those moments back.”

Tuesday’s revelation was relayed to friends and family and they were able to join in with Laurie, Taylor and her partner Jamie’s delight.

“It was nice to be able to give them the good news as they’ve all been amazing with me,” she said.

Although two more rounds of chemo await her, she is treating it as “just one more to go after Friday” in an attempt to make it more palatable as the chemotherapy has taken its toll on her body.

“I’ve hated it,” she said.

“Once I have it on the Friday, it takes a couple of days to hit and then from Monday to Thursday of the following week it just feels like a fog.

“I can’t read, I can’t concentrate, I can’t focus, really.

“I’ve actually got a few Love Island episodes saved up to have on in the background because although it’s just mind-numbing, you don’t need any brain cells to really watch it!

“I can lie back and ‘watch’ that without any effort.”

Below: A delighted Laurie received brilliant news last Tuesday as the scan result showed that her tumour has shrunk.

Dunfermline Press: