How skin cancer at 30 inspired one woman to quit her job and start a business helping others

Being diagnosed with skin cancer aged just 30 was traumatic enough for Sarah Windle.

But the lymphedema she developed after surgery left her with a whole range of health issues she hadn’t anticipated, including swelling to her leg which saw it double in size, hormone and weight problems and a constant feeling of illness.

The symptoms became so debilitating that Sarah, who lives in Rainhill, struggled to move on with her recovery.

She admitted:

“When I went to the dermatologist with a mole on the back of my leg, I didn’t think anything of it. But they were concerned quite quickly, sent me for a biopsy and it turned out to be stage 2 skin cancer.

“Because of the depth and size, I needed more skin tissue taken away so I ended up with what looked like a small shark bite on the back of my leg, and they needed to remove lymph nodes closest to the cancer to check it hadn’t travelled which luckily it hadn’t.”

At that point Sarah had hoped to get her life back on track, but it wasn’t long before she started to feel unwell.

“One leg would swell up to twice the size, it was painful and really heavy, I had trouble sleeping and I started to have health problems – I was constantly getting chest infections and having headaches, I put weight on, my hormone balance was completely off. I just wasn’t feeling great at all.

“I went to the doctor and explained what had happened and they said my body would catch up and eventually it would get better, but I felt like I’d waited long enough.

“I thought, am I always going to feel like this? I was only in my early 30s so I didn’t want that to be the new me.”

Sarah started to do her own research and, concerned about lymphedema, found a lymphatic drainage practitioner.

“I went to her and she was really knowledgeable, as soon as she saw it she knew it was lymphedema. She started doing the lymphatic drainage massages on me, every week at first because it was so bad, and then once a month as it improved.

“She was an older lady and she stopped her practice after a while, so I tried other places but I wasn’t getting the same treatment.

“That’s when I started thinking it was something I’d love to do and help people with.”

Now 40, Sarah, who is a mum of two young boys, went on a sports massage therapy course to gain the anatomy knowledge needed to practice.

It was then she realised just how many benefits it has, not only for people who’ve been through cancer treatment.

“There are so many other problems that people suffer with just from everyday life – stress affects your lymphatic system, age, or sitting at a desk all day. It can weaken your immune system so you can feel sick more often, catch colds easily, and your hormones travel through your lymphatic system so if it’s not working properly it can throw off your hormone balance as well.

“You can feel really tired, and it can cause swelling in other parts of the body, so a lot of people experience bloating around their stomach.”

Inspired by the results she saw, Sarah began her practice last year and at the end of January – 10 years on from her own cancer diagnosis – she left her job in merchandising with Very to launch her own business, Body Flow Lymphatics.

She’s created a studio at her home in Rainhill.

She explained:

“I wanted to keep it really casual and cosy, so people feel more comfortable because it is an all-over body treatment.”

“It’s a really gentle massage, completely different to any other type of massage. I start by stimulating the lymph nodes around the body then slowly using light rhythmic strokes, I push the lymph back up towards the lymph nodes to help move any blockages or fluid retention.

“There’s no pump to the lymphatic system like there is with your circulatory system, so it relies on your muscles moving to move the lymph around your body but if there’s a blockage it gets stuck. The massage manually stimulates the system.”

Sarah says there’s been a lot more media coverage around lymphatic issues recently so awareness is increasing.

“There are great benefits to lymphatic drainage, and a lot of it has been centred around aesthetic results, but I really want people to know the health benefits too,” she adds.

“Nothing gives me more joy than doing something that’s helping somebody else. I feel great because clients feel great and that’s just the nicest thing.”