Speaker • Author • Storyteller

Speaker • Author • Storyteller

For as long as I can remember, all I’ve ever wanted to do is to help people. It’s why I became a breast surgeon. It was ironic that I ended up getting breast cancer. Twice. I was forced to retire at the age of 45 and had to find a new purpose in life.

By speaking and writing about my experiences as a doctor and a patient, I’ve been able to change the landscape of cancer care. I talk about the things that no-one else will. Sex, death and exercise. My mission is to help cancer patients cope with life outside the hospital by showing health care professionals that it’s the little things that matter

For as long as I can remember, all I’ve ever wanted to do is to help people. It’s why I became a breast surgeon. It was ironic that I ended up getting breast cancer. Twice. I was forced to retire at the age of 45 and had to find a new purpose in life.

By speaking and writing about my experiences as a doctor and a patient, I’ve been able to change the landscape of cancer care. I talk about the things that no-one else will. Sex, death and exercise. My mission is to help cancer patients cope with life outside the hospital by showing health care professionals that it’s the little things that matter

COMPANIES WHO HAVE BOOKED ME AS A KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

Do you want to empower your
Audience at your next event?

Do you want a keynote speaker who can captivate a room?

Do you want to inspire your audience to make change their lives for the better?

Do you want to improve the quality of patient care your organisation provides?

“Liz speaks with the strength and raw honesty that she is known for.  Her story – as a surgeon, a cancer patient and as a woman – is, as ever with Liz, an inspiration”

RUTH MAY
ENGLAND’S CHIEF NURSE

“Liz speaks with the strength and raw honesty that she is known for.  Her story – as a surgeon, a cancer patient and as a woman – is, as ever with Liz, an inspiration”

RUTH MAY
ENGLAND’S CHIEF NURSE

APPEARED IN

Under The Knife

All I’ve ever wanted to do is help people – from the age of seven, I knew I was going to be a doctor. Surgical training was hard. Have you ever wondered what it feels like to literally hold someone’s life in your hands? The highs were life-changing, but the lows were worse.

Surgery was a man’s world. Sexual harassment and bullying were commonplace. By the time I reached my thirties, I was ready to quit. The mild depression I’d had at medical school got worse and worse. Two things helped – antidepressants and alcohol.

I thought I knew everything about breast cancer.
I was wrong.

Despite being a breast surgeon, I still bought ten books when I was diagnosed myself. Although my medical team told me what would happen to me, it was other patients who told me how to cope. I realised how much more I could do to help patients in the future.

I co-wrote The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control with Professor Trisha Greenhalgh, another doctor and breast cancer patient, to help patients and their families as they go through treatment.

It’s the little things that matter

If you haven’t been a patient, you don’t know what they truly need.
I found out the hard way.

Let me show you what I learned.