Ruthless and Brilliant

In Ruthless and Brilliant (Radio 4, ­yesterday), Jenni Murray looked at the work of cancer-specialist surgeons. Having been diagnosed with breast cancer herself three years ago, and ­having undergone a mastectomy, she brought vivid personal testimony to the programme, along with her ­peerless interviewing skills. Murray witnessed a mastectomy, performed by her own surgeon, Professor Nigel Bundred. She expected to feel disgusted and worried she might faint, but found herself "fascinated" – watching his technical skill in cutting away all the material of the breast and then taking skin and flesh from the back for a reconstruction. She marvelled at how the breast, "such a powerful social and ­sexual symbol", once removed was ­reduced to just "a pile of rather ­disgusting" tissue. A few weeks later, she spoke to the patient, Sue, and with lots of warmth and laughter they compared their experiences, getting down to the details of how a reconstructed breast compares to the original. Murray recalled Bundred telling her that he couldn't make her look perfect naked, but could make her look perfect in clothes. "I said, 'It's been a very long time since I looked perfect naked,'" she noted drily. There was no forced optimism, just a sense of how powerful and supportive shared ­experience can be.