This is a story about the power of a cuddle, a man's love and a woman's breasts. One breast actually. Richelle Le Roy's left breast – the one she lost after battling breast cancer.

Jethro Le Roy is her loving husband. He's a GP and is usually the man giving the diagnosis. This time, he was told it. On September 22, 2014, Jethro found out his wife had breast cancer.

Jethro Le Royand his wife Richelle. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

'I think you immediately think the worst,” says Jethro. 'It makes you take stock on your whole life really. I suppose it makes you assess where you are and what would happen if she wasn't here.

'I suppose it's like a wake-up call that we're not all bullet proof. The biggest thing I got from this is the ‘what if?'”

From doctor, to supportive husband, and back again, Jethro quickly learned when to give advice or when a simple cuddle was needed.

'I'm certainly not an expert on breast cancer, but it's made me understand it a bit more,” says Jethro.

'For the most part I was trying to be supportive, but you can't help but put your doctor's hat on some times when you're going through appointments.”

There was a rollercoaster of emotions from tears and anger to laughter and acceptance. Jethro stayed through it all.

'I tried to be as calm as possible for her,” says Jethro. 'It's expected for her to be going through all those emotions. You just do what you can to help them through it.

'You try and keep as much normality as possible. You try and be supportive and positive about the diagnosis and the end result of it.”

Richelle's outnumbered in a family of four males. But boobs, how they work and what can go wrong, soon became the accepted topic of conversation for Jethro and their three boys aged 8, 12 and 14.

'They knew mum had breast cancer,” says Jethro. 'But I don't think they grasped the full reality of it, or if mum suddenly wasn't here.”

Their children are what helped keep Jethro and Richelle positive.

'You're always thinking about your children,” says Jethro. 'They're pretty much your whole existence through a lot of it.”

What's Richelle's long-time prognosis? Well, the family is encouraged, but they're also realistic.