In fact Lynda Harcoan’s double mastectomy in May ended the anxiety caused by lumps being removed over the past 14 years and her strong family history of breast cancer.

"I'd been told it would be when I got it, not if I got breast cancer,” she said.

“I knew that I was a sitting duck, I guess."

Mrs Harcoan, 41, said the operation became necessary for her mental as well as physical health.

"I was at the point where I absolutely hated my breasts, I knew that they were going to get me, that was the way I looked at it," she said.

“Emotionally I was living my life in six-month blocks because I anticipated at every check they were going to find something, that this was going to be the time.

“That's a really horrible way to be living."

Di Leslight, 49, was diagnosed with breast cancer in April, only eight months after earlier biopsies on lumps came back clear.

"I thought I dodged a bullet," she said.

"Just because you had a mammogram done six months ago, it doesn't mean that you're not going to have cancer six months later,” she said.

“You really must get yourself checked if there's something that's different, any changes, don't ignore it."

Ms Leslight, who spoke to The Border Mail while completing her final round of chemotherapy, booked in immediately with a surgeon to remove her left breast.

"I actually made the decision for him to take the right breast as well, seeing as there was still a lump there,” she said. “Even though it wasn't cancerous, I wasn't going to take the risk."

"We just went in and, 'No, take the whole lot and do this properly, we don't want to be back here again'.”

Ms Leslight, who lives in Euroa, is still considering whether to have reconstructive surgery but has not regretted her preventive mastectomy.

"Not at all,” she said.

"There's a pretty good chance I would have got cancer in the other breast anyway.

“I wouldn't want to go through this twice."

Mrs Harcoan, of Shepparton, said she found the pain after her operation more manageable than previous procedures had been, although she hadn’t anticipated the emotional exhaustion she felt.

But she described her double mastectomy as the best decision of her life.

"That feeling in the bottom of my stomach is gone, it's like a cloud has been lifted," she said.

"I can actually plan for the future, I'm not living in six-month blocks any more.

"You don't actually realise you're living in that way until that sense of relief comes."​