MY BCRA Journey:                                                          Health/Cookery/Lifestyle

How my life-long passion for food helped me survive

Karyn Booth

This inspiring and incredibly uplifting part-memoir, part recipe book charts one woman’s quest to face up to – and face down – the genetic timebomb she has been handed, and recounts her battle to take control of her own health while continuing to look after her teenage children and her extended family as well as she always has.

In January 2016, Karyn Booth, a highly successful professional food stylist and a divorced mum of two teenage boys, received the devastating news that she carries the BCRA 2 gene mutation, meaning she has a high risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

In one sense, the test result was not a complete shock – there was a history of cancer in Karyn’s family on her father’s side. Her paternal great grandmother, Mary had died from ovarian cancer; her grandmother, Joanie had been diagnosed with breast cancer in her late 40s, which, thankfully, she survived; one of Karyn’s aunts (her father’s eldest sister) had died of breast cancer. When Karyn’s aunt Sarah was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003, it was recommended that all females within the family should contact a family history genetic clinic. Karyn and her sisters duly did this, and signed up to the annual screening programme which was on offer. However, they each decided to put off having the gene test, dreading the consequences of a positive BRCA result, which would include having to decide whether to have the radical risk-reducing surgery normally recommended.

When however, in 2013, the family learned that Karyn’s father had oesophageal cancer, her genetic consultant told her that she couldn’t bury her head in the sand any longer – she had to get the gene test done, and, if the result was positive, take the necessary action to spare the family circle any further heartache.

The positive BRCA 2 result was the beginning of a very tough journey for Karyn, and over the next few years, she faced a series of difficult challenges and life changes. She elected to have both risk-reducing surgeries in rapid succession – in April 2017, she had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed; in June 2017 she had a double mastectomy. After the first procedure, she found herself plunged into early menopause. She had to see herself through the recovery process while trying to keep her working life on track and continue to be a caring mum to her two teenage sons. After the second procedure, she had to begin to deal with the psychological impact of losing both of her breasts, while having to negotiate key choices about further related surgery – which she now faces in the summer of 2018.

Throughout this process, Karyn was forced to reassess other, more general aspects of her lifestyle – including her diet, her relationship with food and her attitude to exercise. She also found herself questioning many things in her life on a profound level – including her close relationships and whether these were truly contributing to her health and well-being.  ‘There is nothing quite like a good dose of fear to make you look deep into yourself, and ask questions you never thought you would. It’ll change you, but I suppose it’s up to you whether you allow this change to be a positive or a negative thing.’ 

Food has been a life-long passion for Karyn, from her days as a star catering student at The Ritz in London, where very early on, she was called upon to prepare an afternoon tea for the Royal family, to her current work as a food stylist at the top of her game, taking on assignments like recreating a medieval banquet for a key scene on Game of Thrones (where she worked on-set as chief food consultant for four seasons). Unsurprisingly, then, food has played a very important role at every stage of her BRCA journey. As Karyn puts it herself: ‘Food is such a vital part of my life that I can’t tell this story without including it and the way it helped me overcome the many challenges I’ve faced.’

When the genetic consultant told Karyn that for the sake of her health, it was crucial to reduce her weight dramatically, she was forced to acknowledge her own unhealthy eating habits and indeed her emotional relationship with food. And she was deeply embarrassed when she consulted a website about healthy eating recommended by her doctor, only to find that the recipes featured there were ones she had written herself when consulting for the Public Health Agency! By making simple yet effective changes, and without starving or depriving herself, Karyn would go on to lose five stone over the next few years.

What becomes clear in the telling of this story is that food is not just a professional passion for Karyn – above and beyond this, and far more importantly, it represents for her a way of expressing love for those she cares about. She will tell us how she helped her father recover from cancer by preparing delicious ‘mini portions’ of all his favourite dishes. She will describe how, as a way of showing her teenage sons that she was still there for them even while she recovered from the surgeries, she spent long days prior to her hospital stays, cooking and freezing healthy but delicious meals the boys could prepare for themselves with the flick of a microwave button. She will share mouth-watering recipes for the cakes, cookies and ‘the stickiest of sticky buns’ which she brings along to her weekly sessions with the Lagan Dragons (a Dragon boat team of women cancer survivors) and which they enjoy with steaming mugs of tea after a Saturday morning of furious rowing on Belfast’s river Lagan.

Karyn’s courage, her zest for life, her self-deprecating humour and her capacity for love will astound you; her passion for food and her ability to create mouth-watering yet nourishing recipes will delight you. Although cancer touches the lives of so many of us, you don’t have to be affected by it, either as an individual or within your family circle, to gain a great deal in the reading of this book – including the inspiration to change your life for the better, and a wealth of fantastic ideas for providing yourself and those you love with healthy, balanced and yet truly delicious meals.

Karyn Booth is a mum of two teenage boys, a freelance food stylist, home economist and cookery writer. Her work mainly involves creating food for film, television commercials, magazines and food packaging. She was the home economist and food stylist on Game of Thrones for four years. Other film work includes High Rise, Dracula Untold, Your Highness, Shooting for Socrates, The Wiper Times, Frankenstein Chronicles and My Mother and Other Strangers.

Karyn qualified as a chef from the Belfast College of Business Studies, and developed an eye for detail while working as a pastry chef in The Ritz Hotel in London. Passion, creative flair and ability to work under pressure led her to Roscoff in Belfast, where she worked with Paul Rankin. A decision to return to London was prompted by a job offer at The House of Albert Roux, and then followed by 18 months at Sir Terence Conran’s restaurant, Sartoria. Finally, she spent two years working with leading party caterer, Linda Artus, before returning to her native Belfast. Some of Linda’s well-known clients have included Mick Jagger, Lord Linley, the Spice Girls and Elton John.

Karyn has written recipes for Sainsbury’s, Lidl and the NI Livestock and Meat Commission, among many others, including a book for Forest Feast. Most recently she helped to found the Belfast Cookery School, where she runs two classes per month.

Author’s Home:  Belfast, N. Ireland                                                                           World Rights

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