1. health and fitness
2. disease
3. cancer

Echo Monday July 28, 2014
echo-news.co.uk /newwoman
WOMAN
New
Cool looks
for work...
no sweat
How to handle the
heatwave...but still
be stylish and smart
FASHION: CENTRE PAGES
HOW I COPED WITH
BREAST CANCER
PAGES 20-21
DOING STAND-UP
IS MY DREAM JOB
PAGE 29
19
20
Echo Monday July 28, 2014
WOMAN
echo-news.co.uk /newwoman
New
What’s on
FIRST
PERSON

ASHLEY DALTON,
from Southend, tells
us about being
diagnosed with breast
cancer, aged 41, enduring
chemotherapy and how she’s
made her bald head a fashion
statement. Just don’t stop
her in the street and ask her
about her asymmetrical
chest…
 Jane McDonald is getting ready
to showcase some new tunes.
@TheJaneMcDonald Rehearsing
brand new song “I’ll Be There” with
@the_coops our first song
collaboration. Photo by
@JoshMcleanPhoto.
N
o one expects to get
cancer. No one
expects to get
cancer when they
are 41 and relatively
healthy. No one expects it,
but it happens.
It happened to me. One in
three people will be diagnosed
with some form of cancer at
some time in their life.
So chances are, statistically
speaking, you won’t get cancer.
Most people don’t. Most people
know someone or love someone
that does though and for that
 Leona Lewis
likes her sweet
treats with a side
order of self
denial.
@leonalewis #currentmood
 Lisa
Stansfield
makes the most
of the the Med
of Manchester
@lisajstansfield
Finished my
work and
enjoying the rest
of the day. It’s 26° in Manchester!
#heatwave
 TOWIE fan
Omid Djalili
might be
reading a little
too much into
this week’s
episode.
@omid9 Good
to see #TOWIE
acknowledge world events when
Dan said “I don’t like the heat”
(Lockie to comment on Palestine
16-1 at Ladbrokes)
 Things are
getting saucey
for Katy B.
@KatyB Woop my
very own sauce has been created
in celebration of #TramlinesFestival
Mmmmmm #Yorkshire.
‘
The biggest lesson
cancer taught me
was to focus on
the joy in my life,
not the misery...
I am here and I
am alive. There’s
no point wishing
things were
different. No
point in blame or
fear. No point
harbouring guilt
or regrets
reason it affects pretty much
all of us eventually.
I got breast cancer. So far I’ve
been lucky. When it was found,
my cancer was locally
advanced.
That means it had spread
beyond the breast, but it hadn’t
got any further than the lymph
nodes in my armpit. Lymph
nodes are little kidney shaped
organs that basically act like a
pond filter and catch all sorts
of debris and stuff that floats
about your insides. They
caught my cancer.
They seem to have done a
pretty good job of holding on to
it too as it hadn’t turned up
anywhere else – it hadn’t
spread. This meant that we
could at the very least have a
good go at getting rid of it. For
some people this is not the case
and they can’t be cured, so the
news that my cancer hadn’t
spread was something to
celebrate.
 Positive outlook – Ashley Dalton is making the most of life after treatment for breast cancer
Treatment for breast cancer
can be pretty intense. I was to
get the full works – 18 weeks of
chemo, a mastectomy and
radiotherapy.
Taking into consideration all
the recovery time in between
treatments, I was looking at
around eight months minimum
and, after that, ten years of
hormone tablets. It sounded
like a long time, but in
exchange for the rest of my life
being an awful lot longer than
it might otherwise be, I thought
it was a pretty good deal.
Chemotherapy is hard. It’s an
endurance test. It goes on for
months and months and the
side effects are unpredictable.
It’s unpleasant at best and
utterly debilitating at worst.
Chemotherapy doesn’t just
kill cells, it attacks your very
sense of self, from how you
look to how you behave. I used
to do things in bursts of
intense energy, all at the same
time and at a breakneck speed.
Now, I have to do things slowly,
one at a time. I once heard
myself described as “Ashley,
with the hair” – now I am
almost completely bald.
With enough eyeliner and
some DMs though, I can almost
make it look like a style choice.
After chemotherapy, I had a
mastectomy. The entirety of my
right breast and all the lymph
nodes in my right armpit have
been removed. On the plus side,
it is no longer appropriate for
anyone to call me “a right tit”
as I am now, literally, right
tit-less.
I thought it would be a huge
shock and take a long time to
come to terms with, but
actually I am very quickly
getting used to it. I have
however been surprised by the
number of strangers who seem
very concerned about me
having reconstruction.
I am walking around with no
hair, so inevitably folk look and
sometimes they ask about my
experiences and I am happy to
talk about it and to listen to
their own cancer tales. It is odd
though, when someone you
don’t actually know asks you if
you’ll be getting a new breast.
It’s almost like a stranger has
walked up and said “Isn’t your
Echo Monday July 28, 2014
echo-news.co.uk /newwoman
21
WOMAN
New
 Group leader – Hayley Collinson
Slimmers
get set for
5k charity
challenge
Picture: PAUL WATSON BA96904_006
nose unfortunate, have you
considered plastic surgery?”
For now, I am quite happy
with my asymmetrical chest. I
am starting to think it might be
quite cool actually.
I have accepted that trying to
“get back to normal” whatever
that means, is futile.
The real trick is working on
being OK and sometimes
redefining what it means to be
ok. If being OK means being
exactly the way I used to be
then frankly, I’m on a hiding to
nothing.
The biggest change is
learning to live with the fear
that cancer will come back or
will have spread and not be
curable after all.
There are no guaranteed
ways of making sure this
doesn’t happen. After my
operation someone asked me if
my cancer would be cured and
the truth is I just don’t know.
If I can get to five years after
treatment without a recurrence
or finding that it had spread,
then I can start to relax a bit –
after five years the chances of it
returning reduce dramatically.
They don’t disappear though.
There is still a chance it will
come back. The thing is, I just
don’t know and I have to learn
to live with not knowing. I will
only really know that I have
beaten cancer when I’ve died of
something else.
The reality is that none of us
really know. Before my
diagnosis, I didn’t know I would
get cancer, but I didn’t know
that I wouldn’t either – it just
hadn’t occurred to me to be
unduly worried about it. For
now, all I know is that things
have gone well. I feel great and
I am happy with my new quirky
asymmetrical shape.
I am here and I am alive.
There’s no point wishing things
were different. No point in
blame or fear. No point
harbouring guilt or regrets.
There is much to be thankful
for and good stuff to be found
everywhere if I look hard
enough. That has been the
overwhelming lesson of my
cancer so far. I get to choose
whether to focus on the joy or
the misery and why choose
misery? It’s miserable!
I don’t pretend I have found
some great inner peace or
achieved any dramatic level of
mindfulness, but I have had to
slow down a bit and look a bit
more carefully for the good
stuff.
Sometimes the good stuff is
so good it hurts and I cry with
joy. My daughter dancing in a
school production for instance
or being in the sun, drinking
ale and listening to great music
with great friends at Leigh Folk
Festival.
Going through cancer
treatment has been
all-consuming and sometimes
it’s been easy to forget how to
be here, now. In the end all any
of us really have, for certain,
cancer or not, is here and now.
SLIMMING club members will be
out in force to raise money for
charity, while keeping themselves
fit.
On Saturday, August 16, the
Slimming World club in Noak
Bridge will start a 5k challenge
from the Townsgate Theatre, in
Basildon, at 11am. The group,
who will be dressed in pink, will
be walking, running and even
mobility scooter-ing towards the
Sporting Village and back again.
Consultant for the group Hayley
Collinson says: “We are trying to
raise awareness for not only our
groups, but also cancer research.
“We are hoping to raise lots of
money for the charity, but also to
let the community know we have
members losing tremendous
amounts of weight the really easy
way.
“Sometimes people are so
worried and scared for asking for
help when it comes to losing
weight, so we want to let those
know that they are not alone.”
 To find out more or to get
involved, call Hayley on 07792
357492.
 Gemma Case’s slimming group
from Our Lady’s Hall in Wickford
will be raising money with an
event at Lake Meadows on August
3 from 11am. Call 07546 567562
for more information.
22
Echo Monday July 28, 2014
echo-news.co.uk /newwoman
WOMAN
A
New
BOUTIQUE
BLOGGER
with Charlotte Rosen
It’s a great
time to bag
a bargain...

Our style queen gives us the
lowdown on the latest fashion
trends and to recreate the look
ourselves.
The week the 26-year-old goes on the
hunt for some cool festival looks. Visit
www.bohohipstar.blogspot.co.uk.
 Pansy jersey dress, £55, Long Tall
Sally longtallsally.com
Smart coats, lined tailoring and
court shoes are a recipe for a stuffy
day at your desk, but floaty fabrics
can feel too informal for the
boardroom.
Almost three quarters (73 per cent)
of women admit to putting extra
effort into their appearance at work,
because it gives them more
confidence, according to a Pantene
Pro-V survey, while a third confess to
putting in outfit overtime because
they think their boss or colleagues
will take them more seriously as a
result.
But being boardroom-appropriate
and avoiding heatwave hazards at
the same time can be tricky.
Make a few cool styling tweaks,
however, and your wardrobe will
work harder in the heat. Designer
Tabitha Webb (tabithawebb.co.uk)
shares her top tips for summer
wardrobe staples that won’t break
the office dress code.
LAYER UP
With cloud cover and unexpected
showers, heatwaves are rarely a
constant temperature from 9-5, so be
prepared with a light top layer, like a
shirt, that you can throw into your
work handbag.
Webb says: “If you are lucky
enough to have air conditioning in
your office but it’s boiling outside,
layering is the answer to your
cool-to-hot problems.”
OK, so the sales might have been on for
a few weeks, but trust me, there’s still
plenty out there.
This is the perfect time to treat
yourself to the best buys and even
better – for half the price.
You could be heading on a late
holiday, stocking up for next year, or
maybe you just fancy adding to your
wardrobe, but whatever the reason, you
just need to get shopping.
But be clever and pick a few basic bits
which can take you through this
summer, and on to the next season.
Stock up on classic pieces like the black
maxi, printed scarfs or the basic strappy
sandals.
If you don’t want to go through the
rails, or dive in the sale bins, this is the
time to shop online.
So set your standards high for this
season’s sales and get shopping. Here
are just a few bargains I have found
browsing the web, and strolling the high
streets.
BE BRIGHTER
Dark colours absorb heat – meaning
you’ll feel hotter in them – so make
heatwave season the time to brighten
up before you’re back in autumnal
shades. Choose a smart summer
dress in a block bright or pastel.
“Keep the shape simple,” Webb
advises. “Have a clear understanding
of the silhouette that suits you and
stick with it. Look for lightweight
fabrics, such as silk or cotton – I
personally also love bright tweed.”
Keep your
cool when
things get
heated
in the
office
‘
Echo Monday July 28, 2014
 Supima tunic, £44.95; indigo
stretch jeans, £34.95; court shoes,
£39.95; all Lands’ End landsend.co.uk
STREET FASHION
Think about
what meetings
you have that
day and dress
accordingly
 Left, floral pleat dress, £105;
Adrianna Papell, John Lewis.
Above, Naples blue jacket,
£74; Naples trousers, £44;
both Damsel in a Dress
damselinadress.co.uk. Right,
Hallhuber boyfriend blazer,
£99, House of Fraser
A strapless dress is perfect for a beach
break, but can look unprofessional in
the boardroom when only your top
half is exposed. Keep a standby
lightweight blazer on your chair to
instantly smarten up an outfit.
“Think about what meetings you
have that day and dress accordingly,”
Webb suggests. “Have cap sleeves on
your tops and dresses, so your arm is
exposed but looks smart.”
Ria Carroll owns
Ri Ri’s boutique in
Billericay High Street
FEET FIRST
When temperatures soar, avoid
closed-toe shoes and pointed pumps,
which can make your feet swell.
Switch to footwear that lets your
toes breathe. You can always keep a
pair of courts under your desk for
last-minute meetings with the MD.
“Open toe shoes or sandals are
perfect for the office, as long as they
still look smart, but don’t forget your
pedicure maintenance,” says Webb.

Oasis,
£18
NIGHT SHIFT
 Black
wrapped
sandal,
Warehouse,
£10
 Border print
scarf, River
Island, £7
 Adriana green tweed dress, £370,
Tabitha Webb tabithawebb.co.uk
Accessories will completely
transform your look if you’re
planning on going straight from
stuffy boardroom to al fresco bar.
Webb says: “Pick out a dress that
can easily be worn with a pair of
open-toe courts and a jacket for the
boardroom. Transform for evening
mode by throwing on a pair of
strappy sandals, ditching the jacket,
and wearing a statement necklace or
bangles.”
27
WOMAN
New
ARM EXPOSE
 Amanda maxi, Lucy’s
Boutique, £20
 Hummingbird
PU top,
Minnie’s
Boutique,
£10
sticky heatwave can melt
away the foundations of
your working wardrobe in
an instant.
echo-news.co.uk /newwoman
 Above, Wishbone Geneva
stripe shirt, £75 wishbone.co.uk.
Below, Coast Cannizaro skirt,
coast-stores.com
“I’ve always had a quirky fashion sense
and I’ve never been afraid to
experiment with colour. People said
they like my style and so that’s what led
me to open my own fashion shop eight
months ago.
“I think a lot of the time women are
nervous about experimenting with
colour and patterns, but when I
recommend something and team it with
the right accessories, they are amazed
at how good it looks.
“I used to shop at places like Primark
for basics but now I mainly wear things
that I stock in the store – it is the
perfect way to advertise!
“Prices range from £40 to £500 for
the most expensive prom dress. We
stock party dresses, prom dresses and
some day wear. Designers include
Forever Unique, Hybrid, Vesper and Pia
Michi.”
28
Echo Monday July 28, 2014
echo-news.co.uk /newwoman
WOMAN
New
How to get salon-style
glossy locks at home
T
o celebrate National Blow
Dry day we have asked the
experts how to create
perfectly glossy locks at
home.
How to get the look...
The average woman visits a salon
just three times a year, so home hair
care and styling is more important
than ever.
With this in mind, electrical hair
tool company Ego Professional have
launched a national campaign called
Bring Back the Blow Dry.
Lots of salons nationwide are
getting involved, including the team
at Central Hairdressing Academy,
Southend, who are giving tips about
how to create your own salon-style
blow dry at home. The salon will
also be helping with National Blow
Dry Day’s efforts to raise funds for
Macmillan Cancer Support.
So, to celebrate this very special
day, we asked Beau Blewer, who
works as a tutor at Central
Hairdressing Academy, to give us a
guide to getting the perfect blow dry
on a classic bob.
START by applying Unite’s
Spritz In Boosta spray to damp
hair to give volume and control.
Also work through some
Luxury Aragn oil for a soft
finish. With clawed fingers, lift
up the back of the hair and
blast down with the drier.
As you come above the ears,
start to lift the hair and blast
upwards. Using two fingers, pull
out the underneath along the
sides and dry behind the
fingers. Lift the top side section
over the head and blow dry
towards your hand to create
volume.
Using your favourite brush,
wrap dry, pushing your hair
back with the brush and
following with hairdryer to
polish the hair. Continue to
wrap dry, pushing the sides
completely over and following
with hairdryer to help increase
volume. Finish with Unite
Shina-Mist for added shine.
 Central Hairdressing
Academy are the largest
provider of NVQ Level 2
hairdressing training in the
country. To find out more about
starting a career in hairdressing
or barbering, call 01702 333262
or visit central
hairdressingacademy.com
For more information
about how to get
involved with
National Blow
Dry Day, visit
egopro
fessional.
com
Don’t let city life play havoc with your beauty regime

Smog-proof your
complexion. LISA HAYNES
reveals how to tailor your
regime to city living.
SKINCARE isn’t just becoming
high-tech, it’s virtually tapping
into our postcodes.
The days of the generic
cleanse, tone and moisturise are
over, replaced with products
specific to our environment.
Scan the shelves for the latest in
city defence products that
protect from pollutants, stress
and UV.
POLLUTION
DEFENDERS
Metropolitan living means that
your skin’s pounded with a daily
dirty cocktail of different
pollutants. The
bigger the city,
the greater the
impact, with air
pollution hitting
peak levels in
parts of the UK
this summer.
TRY: Orico
Streetwise
Oxygenating Day
Cream, £27
(oricolondon.co.uk).
Relief Cleansing
Cloths, £12 (John
Lewis) or Simple
Kind To Skin
Purifying Cleansing
Lotion, £2.99
(Boots).
GRIM BUSTERS
STRESS PROTECTORS
Cleansing morning and evening
is essential, but even more so
when you’re living or working in
the city. Pollution smog and
emissions cause skin to become
dry and flaky as bacteria builds
up.
TRY: Ole Henriksen Grease
If you’re living a fast-paced
lifestyle, stress can eventually
take its toll on your skin.
Suffering with unexplained
sensitivity, puffiness, redness,
acne or extreme dryness? Your
whirlwind city lifestyle could be
the culprit.
TRY: Dr. Andrew Weil for
Origins Mega-Mushroom Skin
Relief collection, from £16
(origins.co.uk).
SUNLIGHT
BLOCKERS
Even on days when the
sun is hidden behind
dense cloud or tall
buildings, your skin is
exposed to damaging
rays.
TRY: Clinique Super
City Block SPF40, £18
(clinique.co.uk).
Echo Monday July 28, 2014
echo-news.co.uk /newwoman
29
WOMAN
New
I was a Bollywood dancer,
but comedy is my passion
F
ormer Bollywood dancer
Abbie Murphy used to feel
like a bit of a fraud when
she danced in films in
Goa, Mumbai and the UK.
The trained dancer loved to
perform the signature moves, and
enjoyed the vibrancy of the
industry, but her real passion lay
elsewhere.
“I was a secret comedian,” says
Abbie. “None of my role models
were dancers, I looked up to people
like Dawn French, Jennifer
Saunders and Rik Mayall.
“I thought
maybe it was
just a
pipedream
and I
By LOUISE HOWESON
[email protected]
might never have the chance to do
what I really felt was my dream job.”
Abbie lived and worked in
Mumbai for a year after graduating,
before she began recruiting dancers
from the UK to work abroad.
It was in January this year that
she decided that it now or never for
her to follow her dream.
Abbie, 28, says: “I made a new
year’s resolution to try to get into
comedy and I thought performing a
one-woman show at the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival would be a good
place to start. I felt if I could handle
that, I could handle anything.
“I actually applied for Edinburgh
before I had even done five minutes
of live stand-up!”
Abbie made a hilarious video
called Girl On Fire, which is a
spoof of the Alicia Keys song That
Girl is On Fire.
She says: “When I heard that
song, I immediately thought of a girl
whose feet were on fire because her
heels hurt so much.
“That is when I came up with the
character Stephanie.
“I wanted to create something to
show people my kind of comedy.”
Abbie is using her character
Stephanie Vange for her one-woman
show at the Edinburgh Festival this
year.
“Stephanie Vange from Vange is
the kind of girl who is on the verge
of saying something really amazing,
but it never happens.”
In order to fund the £4,000 it costs
to put on a show at the festival,
Abbie has had to get herself a
“proper job”.
She says: “I am currently working
as an estate agent four days a week
and then doing stand-up in the
evenings.”
In the lead-up to the festival,
Abbie has been doing regular standup gigs with her unique brand of
sketch comedy and is working away
to prepare herself the best she can.
She says: “I am using my new job
as an estate agent as a great place to
people-watch. Not in a stalky way,
but I have met a lot of interesting
characters I will be using in the
future.”
 Abbie, from Danbury, will perform
Girl On Fire at the Edinburgh
Fringe from August 1 to 24 at the
Counting House. Visit
abbie-murphy.com for details.
Who we’re loving this week...
In Essex...
THIS year’s Southend royalty
received their crown ahead of
the carnival.
Lauren Green, 17, from
Eastwood, a student at
Thomas More sixth form,
was crowned queen and
her princesses are
Courtney cook, 14, and
Bethany Gray, 13.
Don’t miss the carnival
which kicks off on Thursday,
August 7, and culminates with
the parade along the seafront
on Saturday, August 16.
In the UK...
WE think Lily Allen’s third
album, Sheezus, is amazing
but she isn’t quite so sure.
The 29-year-old said that
the album may have not be
“good enough” after her
latest single URL Badman
only reached number 93 in
the charts.
She said: “Maybe the
songs aren’t good enough
this time, who knows? I
just know I can’t wait to get
back into the studio.”
And abroad...
RACHEL McAdams has shown
solidarity for fellow actress
Lindsay Lohan.
Lindsay has been in the press
more for her partying antics
rather than her acting ability.
However, Rachel made a point
to praise her role in Mean Girls.
The Notebook star, who played
queen bee Regina George, said:
“If anything, I was in awe of her
talent. I looked at her as this
experienced actor, and she had
great comedic timing.”
 Comic creation – Abbie Murphy in real life and, left,
as her alter ego Stephanie Vange
30
Echo Monday July 28, 2014
echo-news.co.uk /newwoman