We all need hope......

This is a very personal blog. Usually I write about business subjects but today I am, for the first time writing about my husband’s diagnosis of incurable cancer 2 years ago. Up front I’m writing this because I’m raising funds for Cancer Research UK (link to donate at the end) and I’d like to explain why.

When he was first diagnosed one of my coping mechanisms was to tell people, this allowed my brain to start adjusting and got me to a stage where I could say the words without bursting into tears. I distinctly remember the words of one of those people who had been through a similar experience when they said “everyone’s journey with cancer is an individual one” and how true those words are. I hadn’t realised that while two people could have the same type of cancer the way that cancer behaved and reacted with their body could be completely different.

To share some of the experience of the last two years:

• It is relentless watching the person you love take poison every day to stay alive.
• It is relentless worrying every time someone near you sneezes or coughs for fear you take an infection home and it puts your loved one into hospital (or worse).
• It is relentless trying to figure out which people genuinely want to know the truth when they ask “How’s Gerard doing?” and which are being polite and will panic if you’re honest on a bad day.

So what keeps you going through all of that (and more)? Those people in your friends and family (you know who you are) who get it and provide your support system are so important. But you also must have hope & that hope comes from the research that scientists are undertaking now. You hope they will develop a cure for the particular kind of cancer your loved one has. Or even another treatment that will buy more time for them to survive and for the cure to be developed. The first treatment Gerard was given, which has bought us two years, was approved in 2006 and 20 years ago wouldn’t have been available.

So in August I’ll be doing 100 squats a day (including on my birthday!) to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.

While everyone’s experience of cancer is individual the over-riding need for hope isn’t and there are many individuals and families out there holding onto that hope. If you’re able to support through a donation you’ll help keep that hope alive.

The image is of us enjoying a holiday in Sorrento pre diagnosis.