Wimbledon woman finds happiness after cancer diagnosis

In her own words, Saskia Lightstar was an 'airhead party girl' who lived a superficial life.

Today, she is a wellbeing coach and spiritual teacher – or what she calls ‘a happiness ninja’.

But for 47-year-old Saskia, her happy and successful life came after her crushing cancer diagnosis. 

Saskia was diagnosed while she was living in South Africa, aged 39. She had a routine mammogram which found a lump but was told it was benign. 

“When I went to get it removed, the surgeon said: ‘I have no problem with the benign tumour, I’m just worried about the cancerous one next to it’. 

That was the first I knew of it. It was also in my lymph nodes. It felt like I got hit by a train.”

Saskia had 15 rounds of chemotherapy, three months of radiotherapy and a mastectomy, with all the lymph nodes under her arm removed.

“When I was told I had cancer, I switched into survival mode and just did whatever I had to not to die. 

Then, when I finished treatment, although I looked the same, everything else about me felt different. 

"Physically I was starting to heal, but mentally and emotionally I was struggling with the trauma and a sense of loss.

“What I didn’t realise was that during cancer treatment I had transformed into someone else.” 

Saskia went through "almost three years of hell", wrestling with the fear that she was ‘damaged’, that the best days of her life were over and that her cancer would return. 

Her marriage fell apart, her business failed, she moved back to the UK and was at rock bottom. 

I was in a dark place, a deep depression. I tried to end my life – I took an overdose.

At that point, she knew she had to find a way to happiness, so she began exploring mind, body and spirit, and slowly her life began to change.

She began to write and the result is a book, The Cancer Misfit, a guide to navigating life after treatment. 

Saskia says the book title is a term coined because she was fed up of being labelled a survivor. 

“Being a cancer survivor sounds like I’m in some perpetual struggle.

"I’m not. I just don’t fit into life the way I used to, I’m no longer a square peg, instead I’m a wonderfully wonky peg and I can just be me.

“This book is for all those people who have finished their treatment and find themselves physically healed but emotionally shattered,” she said. 

“I don’t want people thinking the best part of their life was before their diagnosis.

"I’m proof that doesn’t have to be the case.

“I’ve never been happier and I feel my purpose now is to help others find their happiness too.

"Not just those who have had cancer, but anyone who has been through any kind of trauma.

“I’ve been given a second chance and I want to make the most of it."

Saskia is a supporter of Cancer Research UK.

To find out how you can support the cause, visit here.