Just over a year ago I was your average teenager. I was going to school, going out with friends, playing netball and doing all the stuff that teenagers do. However, on September 28th 2012 everything changed for me. It was the day I was told that I had cancer.
During the weeks running up to my diagnosis I had been suffering from knee pain, as I played a lot of netball I presumed it was just an injury. After several visits to the doctors and being advised just to rest it, I wasn’t happy and knew it wasn’t getting any better. I was in constant pain so my parents organised a private consultation for me to try and sort it out. On the Monday I went to the Alexandra Hospital in Cheadle near to my home. On the Tuesday I had a MRI scan, on Wednesday I was called back and was told they thought it was a tumour and by the Friday I was in a specialist bone hospital in Shropshire, where they told me the worse news ever, I had cancer.
My whole world changed.
Since that day I have had many rounds of chemotherapy at the Royal Manchester Children Hospital. I had an eight hour operation to have a huge, angry tumour removed from my leg. They managed to save my leg and replaced the bone from my knee to my ankle with metal. I’ve also had lots of other smaller operations. In fact I have lost count!
Due to the treatment lots of changes have happened to me, not just to my physical appearance but inside too, it is a scary time. I am not well enough to attend school which I find difficult because school is such a big part of life and I miss all my friends.
At the moment I am undergoing more intensive chemotherapy as they have now discovered the cancer has spread and have found further tumours in my lungs and my throat. However, I cannot express enough how supportive all my friends and family have been. I could not have done any of this without them and I love them all to pieces, so I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me so far and for all who support me in the future! Thank you.
It really would be amazing if we could raise as much money as possible for CLIC Sargent and help raise money for other children and families just like me who have their world turned upside down by cancer. You never expect anything like this to happen to you. We really do need this support and every penny raised will go to Clic Sargent.
Thank you, Katie x
