My Story
Hi, I'm Courtney! I had cancer. I’m not a victim of cancer. And I’m really trying my hardest to not make it my whole personality, but here we are. It wasn’t a cancer where life was stripped away from me in my late 20’s and luckily it didn't reign a lifetime of chemotherapy onto me either. As my mum said, I had ‘lucky cancer’ (stupid fucking statement mum, cancer is cancer). If you're one of those cool Gen Z's that need visual stimulation whilst learning about something then head to: https://youtu.be/UN4T4x9e9kQ - After only 10 days of being diagnosed with Angiomyxoma (a hormonal tumour that sits in the pelvic region of ‘child bearing aged women’) – I had a 16 hour long, major surgery to have it removed – and as Ian Beale so wonderfully put it – ‘I’ve got nothing left’. I’m down a uterus, a cervix, an ovary, a bladder, rectum, colon, anus and a whole vagina (probably some other bollocks too but the list is too long to remember). My bowel is now in pieces and sits on the outside of my stomach in the form of a colostomy and a urostomy. For those not aware of what that means – simply put – I’ll piss and shit into bags for the rest of my life. It’s shit (if you pardon the pun). It’s shit that I won’t ever be able to have children. It’s shit I can’t eat sweetcorn. I also shit myself on a bus last month, which wasn’t very cool. But although it's shit, it’s also just life. And I was simply unlucky. I was dealt a bad hand. One of my cells just decided to go rogue one on me and now here I am. But that’s the point, nobody ever thinks it’ll happen to them. I know I didn’t. I was just free-wheeling life and not shitting into a bag 6 months ago. Look at me now mum! Please do note, I’m not mad about it, because there’s no point in being mad about it. I can’t do anything to change it. But what I can do, is try to help the next person because cancer isn’t just something that’s going away tomorrow. And it’s crushing watching what it does to everyone around you, I know that first hand. So I'm going to be running the Great North Run for Cancer Research. Or at least try to, I’m pretty shit at running (and it's a pretty big ask to be running a half marathon less than a year post-op but ya bitch is crazy). Anything you can donate will go towards giving someone a better life and I think that in itself is so fucking awesome. Cancer has been a pain in my now non-existent arse, but let’s show it who it’s messing with. Peace & love, Courtney xxx P.S. I chat a lot of waffle online, don’t get too excited, it’s a glorified journal at this point. But if you want to hear more about me navigating this epic shit show that is now my new normal then head to www.dearangie.co.uk or check out @dearangi3 on Insta x
