9th Rebirthday

 Today is my 9th rebirthday. Wow! Double figures next year! I am amazed to have got this far. It wouldn’t have happened without the support of my wonderful sister Gail and her gift of life to me in the form of stem cells. 

During the month that I was in hospital, Gail and Maggie came every day. They made such a difference to me and what was great is they were able to support each other. It was an intense time for us all and the love we all have for one another was deepened. 

These 9yrs have not been easy. In fact I’m more disabled now than I was before the transplant but at least I’m still here. I know there will be more struggles to come but with the continued love and support of my family and friends, I know I’ll get through it until my time comes. Thank you to all who have been part of my journey. Either the 16 years with MDS or the 9 years with post transplant complications. Thank you to my amazing medical teams mainly at Kings but also at Guys. 

The sad thing is over these last 25 years I’ve had to say goodbye to many. This has been either through dying from the blood cancer or because friends and acquaintances just couldn’t cope with my level of suffering and ill health and have slowly withdrawn. 

You need to dig deep when you experience a cancer diagnosis. The ramifications on physical and mental health are severe but it’s not just the illness and the treatment, it’s also the changes. Changes to friendship groups, changes to physical ability, changes that lead to a minimal social life, changes to the way and how long you can holiday for. These are just some of the difficulties. 

Cancer also has some positives. It brings you much closer to the people that love and care for you. It stops you sweating the small stuff. It gives you an opportunity to give back like I do with cr_uk and MDS UK Patient Support Group and kingscollegehospital. I may not be able to sing like I used to which would always make my soul smile but I have learned to live deep in my soul and for that I’m grateful. 

“Life is only 10% of what happens to you. The other 90% is how you respond to it” #mds #bloodcancer #Cancer #cancerawareness #SurvivorStrength