Guernsey Actress Back on Stage After Breast Cancer Diagnosis 

Martine Legg, an amateur actress in Guernsey, is performing again after a breast cancer diagnosis in March and treatment that included three weeks of radiotherapy. Speaking to the BBC, she said she wants people to know the disease “doesn’t discriminate.” 

Legg found a lump in her breast and went to see a doctor. She “didn’t think much of it and neither did he.” The lump turned out not to be the cancer. The cancer was elsewhere, which she called “one of those incredibly lucky diagnoses.” 

Once the “initial annoyance wore off,” anger took over. Legg is healthy, doesn’t smoke, hardly drinks and does a lot of sport, so the breast cancer diagnosis felt unfair. She has since come to see that it “can happen to anyone.” 

She had her radiotherapy in Southampton and rang a bell when it ended. She is now back to “singing and dancing” in a play with the Guernsey Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Club. She admits to a “little bit of a guilt complex,” because others with the disease have had it “much worse.” 

Breast cancer is Guernsey’s third most common cancer, according to the Channel Islands cancer report linked by the BBC. It causes about 12 to 13 deaths a year. 

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Legg’s message to anyone facing a similar diagnosis is to stay strong and as healthy as possible. She said it is fine to have moments of feeling upset or angry, and that plenty of help is available. In her words, there are ways forward and several routes to take, and the support in Guernsey is “fantastic.” 

With radiotherapy behind her, Legg plans to carry on as before. “You can carry on a relatively normal existence,” she said, adding that she does not want the illness to stop her doing anything. The source does not name the play or give performance dates.