Friends diagnosed with breast cancer weeks apart said ‘joking around’ got them through as they refused to ‘sit and cry’

Two best friends who were diagnosed with breast cancer just weeks apart have revealed how they have supported each other through treatment – including joking that they can now save money by sharing a bra after they both had breast surgery.

Julie Alderton, 53, and Sally Cook, 51, from Worthing, West Sussex, have been friends since meeting at the school gates in 2002, when their eldest children were in the same class.

The pair have helped raise each other’s children, enjoyed countless coffee dates and Christmases and even have neighbouring allotments.

But their friendship took an unexpected turn earlier this year when Julie was diagnosed with breast cancer in February, followed by Sally the following month.

Both were diagnosed with cancer in the same breast, right, although their symptoms and subsequent treatments have been very different.

Despite the shock, the friends have continued to find humour in their situation, joking about sharing underwear and even laughing when Julie accidentally sent her prosthetic breast flying across a car.

Sally told PA Real Life: “You literally couldn’t write it.”

Julie added: “We would joke and muck around and get told off by the children because we were finding it funny.

“But it was our way of coping.”

The pair first met when Sally rushed across a school playground after passing her driving test, convinced she was late to collect her daughter.

She approached Julie to ask whether she had missed the children coming out, and the two struck up a conversation.

Julie recalled telling her husband afterwards: “Some weird woman has literally just run up to me in the playground and started talking to me.”

The following day, Sally approached her again, and a friendship was born.

Over the years, Julie, who has two sons aged 31 and 29, became a familiar presence in Sally’s family, helping with childcare while Sally worked as a bus driver.

Sally, who has three daughters aged 31, 28 and 17 and a son, 24, said they would sit down together to organise nursery collections and school runs, while Julie became godmother to her youngest daughter.

Their friendship has continued long after their children grew up, with the pair regularly meeting for coffee, visiting garden centres and tending their neighbouring allotments.

In early 2026, however, Julie noticed an unusual symptom while watching television.

She had been scratching an itchy nipple and initially assumed she had a spot, but later discovered it was weeping.

The following day, while the friends were having coffee, Sally noticed Julie scratching again and jokingly asked whether she had fleas.

Julie explained that her nipple had been itching and weeping, and showed Sally a photograph she had taken of the affected area.

Sally immediately insisted she contact her GP.

Julie initially dismissed the symptom as a harmless spot, but Sally repeatedly messaged her until she made an appointment.

Julie was referred to a breast clinic, where she underwent a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsies.

On February 20, she was told she had breast cancer.

She said: “Everything just goes fuzzy. I couldn’t hear what they were saying properly after that.”

Julie broke the news to Sally over FaceTime, leaving her friend devastated.

Sally, whose mother died aged 44 when Sally was 22, said Julie had become like another family member over the years and she then feared losing her, too.

She said: “I think I probably dealt with Julie’s diagnosis worse than my own.

“I wasn’t very supportive because I just cried.

“I thought, I can’t lose Julie as well.”

A few weeks later, on the eve of Mother’s Day, Sally discovered a large lump in her own breast while getting ready for bed.

She described the lump, which was on the side of her breast, as feeling like “half an egg”.

Sally initially hoped it was harmless, particularly after her GP suggested it could be a cyst or fatty lump.

But at a breast clinic in Worthing, a doctor told her he strongly suspected cancer, which was subsequently confirmed following a mammogram.

Sally was particularly anxious about telling Julie, who was already dealing with her own diagnosis.

When she eventually rang her friend, she said: “Julie, I don’t want you to think I’m copying you, but I’ve just been told I’ve got breast cancer.”

Julie initially thought her friend was joking and struggled to believe they had both received the same diagnosis.

The pair began making jokes about their shared circumstances, much to the horror of their children.

Julie recalled: “We were going, ‘Oh, it’ll be cheaper on bras. We can buy one and share it.’

“We decided I was going to walk backwards and Sally would walk forwards, and between us we’d have one decent pair of boobs.”

Julie’s cancer was spread across several small areas rather than forming a single lump, and she underwent a mastectomy on May 7.

She did not require chemotherapy or radiotherapy but continues to receive endocrine treatment, including daily medication and four-weekly injections.

Sally, meanwhile, was diagnosed with stage three HER2-positive breast cancer and underwent seven cycles of chemotherapy before surgery in October.

Her treatment was particularly difficult because she also has ulcerative colitis, and she experienced periods of severe illness and hospital admissions.

She said losing her hair was one of the hardest parts of the experience.

When she began shedding it, Julie helped cut her hair while Sally’s youngest daughter experimented with different styles, including a mohawk, before it was eventually shaved off.

The two friends continued meeting whenever Sally felt well enough, often visiting garden centres or going for coffee.

Julie, who had previously experienced alopecia, also found herself adjusting to life after a mastectomy.

She now wears a prosthetic breast, which once caused a particularly memorable incident when she tried to show it to Sally.

Julie explained: “I got it out of my bra and went to hand it to her, and it just slipped out of my hand.”

The prosthetic went flying across the car, with Julie only then realising Sally’s daughter and her friend were sitting in the back, while a neighbour had also witnessed the incident.

But beneath their jokes, both women acknowledge that their diagnoses have brought frightening and emotional moments.

Julie recalled looking in the mirror after her mastectomy and struggling to come to terms with the loss of her breast.

Sally said she also found herself unusually withdrawn after two young women laughed at her while she was shopping following chemotherapy.

Ordinarily outspoken, she said she simply wanted to go home.

The friends have continued to look out for one another, with Sally particularly protective when strangers stare at Julie’s headscarf.

Both women are continuing treatment and recovery, with Sally facing further treatment following her surgery, including seven more rounds of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and endocrine treatment like Julie.

They hope their experiences will encourage other women to take unusual breast symptoms seriously and seek medical advice, even when they initially seem harmless.

Julie believes Sally’s insistence that she visit her GP may have made an important difference.

She said: “You suddenly sit there and think, if I hadn’t contacted the doctor…”

And despite everything they have faced this year, the friends say their dark sense of humour has been an important way of coping with their diagnoses.

Sally said: “A lot of people say to us, ‘You’re dealing with it so well. You’ve got such a good attitude about it.’

“Well, what do you want us to do? Sit in a chair and cry?

“This is our life.”

Sally and Julie have shared their story as tombola and Breast Cancer Now launch a campaign to encourage friends to make breast checking part of everyday conversations. To find out more, visit: tombola.co.uk/breast-cancer-now