11,000,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed each year. 42% of women will get cancer, 22% of men. There is life after a diagnosis of cancer or better still “Living Well” and not waiting for cancer to strike. The “Living Well” lifestyle promoted by Penny Brohn Cancer Care  not only got me through the medical treatment needed for my cancer, it changed my life for the better and I am fitter and happier now than I have been for 30 years. I took the view that I had a genetic predisposition to develop cancer. (both parents died from cancer) and I had not eaten proberly or done enough exercise for ten years and the tumour had spread to the lymph nodes. It was like the Titanic heading for the iceberg and I did not have the time to turn it around naturally before it would spread to vital oragns and become terminal. So my decision was to have the tumer burned with radiation, cut out with surgery and posioned with chemotherapy and if I came through this in one piece, start afresh with a healthy lifstyle and make a full recovery, as I have and hope this method prevents the return of cancer to my organs  

 

 Someone you know is going to get cancer, the stronger and healthier they are, the easier its going to be and the better their chances of a full recovery. This is why supporting Penny Brohn Cancer Care is so important. It's only a tiny part of the massive "cancer industry", nevertheless a 3 day "Living Well" stay at Penny Brohn will have a major impact on the life of a loved one and they won't have to pay anything! Penny Brohn relies on charitable donations to provide this fantastic support which, 30 years after it started, is still way ahead of its time. 

 

In April 2011 I was diagnosed with stage 3 rectal cancer and attended the Living Well course at Penny Brohn Cancer Care (formerly Bristol Cancer Centre). In 1990, shortly before my mother Phyllis McGhee died from the same cancer, Irish television made a tribute to her life and in it she talks about dying from cancer. I watched the interview the night I was diagnosed, in it she talks about the positive effect going to Bristol in 1988 had on her life and her ability to deal with a chronic illness. How weird is that, getting advice from my mother 20 years after her death. So I went to Penny Brohn for three days, when I would have prefered to stay home with my kids at this traumatic time of my life. There is no doubt in my mind those three days"Living Well" laid the path I am now on two years later.

 

I had pre-surgery radiation and chemotherapy in the summer of 2011 to shrink the tumour, surgery to remove it and the infected  lymph nodes in August, followed by six months' chemotherapy. In May 2012 I had my colostomy reversed. When my doctors told me the good news in that there was no visible cancer in my body and "good bye, we'll see you in six months", I could barely walk 100 meters without getting exhausted. I weighed 101 kilos and had a peripheral neuropathy in my hands and feet with 100% loss of sensation. I understood the journey was far from over, there was still a long road ahead to getting my health back and “Living Well” with cancer. So far it's gone really well.

 

As of February 2013, about 60% of sensation has returned to my hands and feet and on May 18, 2013, 12 months after finishing treatment, I am in remission and confident I will complete one of the toughest marathons of all, The Great Wall of China Marathon. I would like to use this marathon and other physical challenges to create awareness that, there is life after cancer. I am doing the training for my wellbeing because the evidence suggests that 30 minutes of daily physical activity reduces the liklihood of cancer returning by up to 40%. Add the right nutrition and mental calmness and you have a good chance of becomming a cancer survivor. Unfortunatly, only a small proportion of cancer research is being done in this area, presumably because multinationals don't make money from "healthy lifestyles".

 

The cancer experience is different for everybody, Penny Brohn and Dr David Servan Schreiber helped me. Perhaps my experience can be helpful to someone else and I am blogging about my journey at www.rectalcancer.me, hopefully  the second stage of my recovery  culminates on top of the Great Wall of China on May 18th 2013.  

 

The Great Wall Marathon is not the end of this effort to raise awareness of "Living Well" with cancer. I was given the 12 months all clear during the London Olympics. Being  five years clear is a major milestone in surviving cancer, for me this falls during the next Olympics, when I plan to do my first Iron Man. Then in October 2017, health permitting, my long term goal is to compete in my age group in the Iron Man World championships   after that who knows, maybe like Oisin I am in "Tir na nog" with my wonderfull children and just have to stay on my horse.

 

Breakdown of a donation of £10

 

Your donation	£10
Gift Aid	£2.50
Just Giving 5% fee	£0.63
Credit card fee @ 1.30%	£0.13
Amount going to Penny Brohn	£11.74