A teacher being treated for breast cancer at Whipps Cross hospital has praised her treatment.

Alex Wiessler, of Highams Park, was diagnosed with breast cancer after she had a routine mammogram in May last year.

The 58-year-old, who lives in Preston Avenue, went on to have an operation at the Leytonstone hospital and then undertook chemotherapy throughout the year with an appointment every three weeks.

Mrs Wiessler, currently on sick leave as a teacher at Henry Maynard Primary School, in Addison Road, Walthamstow, is due to have a three-week radiotherapy course every week day starting on Monday.  

The last time she went to Whipps was on Christmas Eve for a check-up and she praised staff for her treatment over the year.

She said: “It was obviously a shock to find I had cancer but the mammogram service was very quick and efficient, it picked up my cancer very early and I was referred on rapidly to have an operation.

“Maybe I was lucky but my treatment was beyond marvellous and was absolutely fantastic, I was given a number to call if I had any problems or questions and they went beyond the call of duty to give me additional support.”

Mother-of-two Mrs Wiessler had a scare when her chemotherapy picc line caused an infection in her arm but she said the staff at Whipps dealt with it well.

She said: “I was whipped through A&E and was seen in less than 20 minutes, this was at 11am in the morning in November so it was not a very busy time.

“But I think that genuine emergencies are seen urgently at A&Es, everyone gets a colour of how urgent the matter is, so people who really need it are seen to.”

Mrs Wiessler did notice the pressures on hospitals and the NHS as a whole and she warned the cancer treatment services will not survive cuts.

She said: “I could see nurses were beyond exhausted and rushed off their feet, many said they were doing 12 hour shifts, but despite this they had an amazing attitude and it did not affect my treatment.

“In my experience the system is working currently for cancer, and further cutbacks could be a disaster for a lot of people, as it is currently saving peoples’ lives and mine.”