When I was diagnosed with incurable cancer, I was woefully unprepared for the possibility of my death. And while our NHS has offered excellent medical care, there has been a conspicuous absence of emotional support alongside my treatment. I needed a ‘place’ and a...
How do people living with cancer cope with 'scanxiety'? Today I will make my way to Cannock Hospital for my three-monthly CT scan. I know the drill. I will sign in at the reception desk, quoting my NHS number (I know it by heart), then make my way to a waiting...
I’ve been rageful for so long and it’s exhausting. It’s time for me to get even. I can’t turn back the clock. I can change nothing about the delays in getting my cancer diagnosed. But I can pass on the lessons of my experience, and I find some solace in that, enough...
I am one of the nine per cent of Britons who think about death at least once a day. According to YouGov Death Study research, 20 per cent of us think about death several times during the week while seven per cent say they think about it less than once a year. Four...
Noticing a smattering of new hair after months of chemo is bringing a little joy... Like many of us, I got through the pandemic without troubling a hairdresser and enjoyed for a while, long, girlish locks. As an older woman, it was great to sport, with some defiance,...
In the space of five months, I have been reduced from being a lively 65-year-old wife, mother, grandmother and small business owner to being bed bound, immobile, needing full-time care and struggling for every breath. While my day-to-day symptoms have eased, I now...
For all those living with cancer or the possibility of its return… I’m awaiting the results of my final annual cancer check-up and I sense myself slipping into my mind’s waiting room, the space between ‘got cancer’ and ‘haven’t got cancer’, my earthly purgatory....
We think it's helpful to tell people who are struggling with a life-threatening disease like cancer to ‘keep fighting’. It isn’t. It’s shaming. Let’s stop the military metaphors and get real about what we’re facing. When Health Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted that we...
