My Story
HI. I was diagnosed with stage 1B2 Cervical Cancer in May 2023 after 3 months of being told I didn't have cancer and a normal smear test. Shock, disbelief and instant membership to a club no-one wants to join. The cancer treadmill begun which included a total hysterectomy followed by gruelling chemo and radiotherapy. However, 2 weeks after I finished treatment at the end of 2023, I collapsed with a pulmonary embolism across both lungs blocking the arterial branch. The lack of oxygen caused my heart to struggle so I spent a week on oxygen on an acute heart ward in hospital and will be on blood thinners for the foreseeable. During my hospital stay I was told by my oncologist that chemo can sometimes cause sticky blood which is the likely cause of my embolism. Unable to even stand up at first, the road to recovery has proved a bit longer than originally anticipated! I decided to start walking as a gentle way back to fitness and set myself a target of 2 miles every day. Since Christmas I have built up lung strength and lost 2.5 stone and absolutely not looked back! After signing up to walk 1000 miles in a year (which I'm on target to smash!) I decided to take part in CR's walk 100 miles in May too. I am thankfully through the other side of a complete shit show and have just had my 6 month post treatment all clear check up. There's no point describing the benefits of an organisation like Cancer Research because as we all know, without them my story and millions of others would be very very different. Poignantly, the last day of this challenge also marks exactly a year to the day that I was diagnosed. Anything you can donate will be very gratefully received and I'll keep updates on my walks!
