Living after breast cancer is a much more common consideration than dying from the disease these days, thanks to massively improved survival rates.

However, this isn’t nearly as straightforward as it sounds.

Around 50,000 women and 400 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK, and it’s estimated that one woman in eight will get the disease in her lifetime.

An amazing 85% now survive beyond five years after diagnosis. But, surviving isn’t the end of the battle, as often post-cancer life is plagued by hidden side effects, and getting ‘back to normal’ is far more complex than people might expect.

This is what Breast Cancer Care’s #hiddeneffects campaign aims to highlight, during the current Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Rachel Rawson, clinical nurse specialist at Breast Cancer Care, says: “When you’ve been through something so traumatic, often everyone expects you to get back to normal after the treatment, but many people don’t feel like the person they were before it all started.

“I think that now, people feel they’re more able to come forward and say it’s not all right, and they want to do something about it.

“They can think more about life than death.”

There are also deep psychological challenges. Rawson explains that the charity frequently hears from women who are struggling with side effects linked to the emotional consequences of a diagnosis, like the loss of femininity and trying to regain body confidence after surgery, which can result in not feeling sexually attractive with a partner.

“People think it seems trivial after what they’ve just been through, and wonder how they can talk about their sex life with their doctor after he’s just treated them for a life-threatening disease,” she says.

“There’s also the strain of returning to work and the potential financial worries, combined with the daily fear of breast cancer returning.

“Often it’s these unexpected effects of breast cancer that hit people the hardest.”

Breast Cancer Care is working towards ensuring every woman who needs it has access to links for fertility referrals, so they can at the very least have a discussion with relevant professionals about whether they want to try to preserve their fertility or not.

They also hope the #hiddeneffects campaign will encourage anybody struggling to use Breast Cancer Care’s specialist nurses, local services and emotional support network to help deal with the problems.