'I should long be dead': Mum with stage 4 breast cancer celebrates reconstructive surgery

A blogger from Portishead who was previously given a terminal cancer diagnosis has celebrated getting an operation that doctors said would 'never' happen.

Heidi Loughlin was diagnosed with stage four incurable breast cancer in 2015.

Now she has surpassed medical predictions by having reconstructive surgery.

In a tweet posted on 13 July, Heidi said: "Done! Today is the day I was told would never come. Getting reconstruction with #stage4 inflammatory breast cancer just doesn’t happen. Statistically I should be long dead, but I’ve never been more alive! Statistics are just goals!"

For the past six years, Heidi has documented her experience of living with cancer on her blog called 'Storm in a Tit Cup'.

When she was first diagnosed, doctors told Heidi that she desperately needed chemotherapy. However, she was pregnant at the time with daughter Ally.

The mum made the decision to delay the treatment for herself to give her unborn daughter the best chance of survival.

Tragically, when Ally was born 12 weeks early in December 2015, she contracted an infection, and died just days later.

The former police officer welcomed having a mastectomy in 2016 and her tumours shrunk after receiving a life-extending drug Kadcyla, disappearing altogether in 2019. But doctors have always warned that they could come back.

In a video posted after her operation, Heidi added: "I am genuinely feel amazing after my operation.

"Thank you so much for all your amazing support. I am currently in recovery, on the good drugs and just feel amazing to have had this surgery that I never thought was going to happen and which I was told was never going to happen.

"It's one step to making cancer even smaller.

"So thank you so much and I will keep you posted."

• Watch: Heidi Loughlin's delight after having reconstructive surgery