麻豆约拍

On Tuesday morning I chatted with an extraordinary person. Sally Arnold.听 Back in the early 1970s, she was The Rolling Stones tour manager,听and went on to build a career in tour and event management, working for everyone from The Who and Queen to Mike Oldfield, Peter Gabriel and many more, including the Royal family 鈥� organising a 75th听birthday party for Prince Philip.

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But, none of that is the most impressive thing about Sally. 20 years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer and endured a听mastectomy.

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Sally told me that when she first had the scar she wouldn鈥檛 even look at it.听 But she didn鈥檛 want听reconstructive surgery either. Sally didn鈥檛 want to hide who she was.听Then she had an idea.听

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She said to me: 鈥業t took me ages to pluck up the courage, but听I had听some ivy tattooed on my chest 鈥� on the scar tissue where my breast once was.听Then I got Lorna 鈥� my sister-in-law 鈥� a photographer, to take some pictures and stage an exhibition, because I wanted to show that a mastectomy scar needn鈥檛 be ugly, but can be seen as a thing of beauty.听Some people even say it's sexy鈥�, she added.

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As a child I remember a hymn that my mum used sing as she worked around the house. It was made up of some verses from the Bible, and the line I can still recollect was one about God鈥檚 promise to bestow on us 鈥渁 crown听of beauty听instead of ashes, the oil听of joy听instead of mourning鈥�. I think that鈥檚 the verse my mum especially loved.

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Later today I鈥檓 speaking at a conference for the Royal Society of Medicine and I鈥檓 going to tell them Sally鈥檚 story. I think healing is never simply physical, it鈥檚 always an emotional and psychological journey too.

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Sometimes it strikes me that our whole philosophy of life misses something very important. We try so hard to cover up, to听make everything as good as new. But Sally鈥檚 words reminded me that there鈥檚听huge听power in the acknowledgment of our brokenness and vulnerability. Sally鈥檚 scar, her 鈥榳ar wound鈥� as she calls it, has become a symbol of not so much of something lost but of something found;听a crown听of beauty听instead of ashes, the oil听of joy听instead of mourning.

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