I have asked that question, why me? when it happened again. But I couldn’t find an answer. And I don’t think there is an answer to my question. But the good thing is I have stopped wasting time looking for an answer. Instead I am trying to help people who are in need of help and support because of the big nasty “ C ” ....... C A N C E R .......

This is my STORY.….

I lived my life. I had everything. Awesome life partner my wife, great parents (my in laws too, but never called them M & F in law as they have looked after me as I am one of their own), sisters, brothers and abundance of good honest friends. What else you need. At this point we were smooth sailing in different elements of our lives.

I had huge plans for myself. Back in 2010 everything was happening pretty much the way I wanted. I thoroughly enjoyed my work, my life and working through my plans. I loved my life (not ashamed to say almost obsessed with myself), I dreamed of many things that we are going to achieve as a family, kids, money, comfortable life and ultimately achieving happiness. I wanted them fast, wanted them real fast. At times I was overconfident thinking I am on a better wicket to achieve all these things.

HOWEVER…………

My dreams were short lived.

I was diagnosed with Leukaemia, the very year I wanted to accelerate the pursuit for my dreams, happiness. Everything crashed in seconds. I felt like I have crashed out without achieving a single dream. I was devastated.

Enough of my dreams, let me cut to the chase here. Doctors confirmed what type of Leukaemia I have got. For my luck, it can be cured by some gruesome chemo cycles. I didn’t know what to expect. Of course, I have never been in this situation before. I never had the fear of dying from the disease either. I was young, well considerably young, young enough for me to be brave and courage’s and face the treatments. Yes, I went through some gut wrenching chemo treatments. 4 cycles of them. When I successfully reached the 4th cycle it was painful, cried all the time, highly emotional and wanted all the treatments to be stopped at once. But with the help of my wife, doctors, nurses I pushed through to the end of the cycle. Finally, I was cured. I still had to go and see the doctors for follow-up discussions. My health was looking bright, things were improving. I am very proud to say I was back at work month after my last chemo…

BACK ON TRACK…

Time went by, I was feeling much better. I was happy and slowly started building my confidence to get back on my pursuit of happiness. Time passed so quickly. It was a significant day in our lives. On the May 26th 2013 three years after my cancer my wife gave a birth to our son. So, I asked myself what else. That is one of the best thing could happen to anyone. We were so happy and my son started growing and boy he was growing fast. So, my dream to become success became more desperate. Both myself and my wife were achieving our aims bit by bit. Then ……….

SOME SAY’S HISTORY NEVER REPEATS, BUT IT DID FOR ME….

I was hit by leukaemia for the 2nd time. It was a relapse. Naturally I was devastated. At this point I was so disappointed. Disappointed about everything. On the eve of my bone marrow biopsy I had many things crossed my mind. Death, leaving family behind, gruesome treatments, my hopes & dreams and many more. Day later I remember going back to the hospital. I still remember my wife packing bag with a heavy heart. My son plays in the living room not knowing what is happening and me sobbing every time it gets to my head. It was harder than the last time. Doctor walked in to the ward and spoke to me very calmly. She said it is positive that I have got a relapse of the same type of cancer. I couldn’t talk. I thought no point. Yes, I did have lot of questions but no point asking any. I needed time to sink in. Finally, they decided a combination of chemo, stem cell transplant and radio therapy as my treatment. So, everything was a go-ahead. I was lucky enough to get stem cells from my sister, that gave me a hope of living again. I suffered a lot, nearly lost my life once in the process and inherited life time diabetes as a side effect of chemo. However, I survived the transplant and in the process of recovering.

WHY DID I SHARE MY STORY….

My wife, son, family & friends suffered emotionally, mentally in many ways. It was amazing what they have sacrificed for me, for me to get better. Team of wonderful doctors, and nurses from Addenbrooke's Cancer ward Cambridge performed a miracle on me to get better and they are still Working on it….

I had a HOPE and I still have a HOPE. People around me gave me a hope throughout my plight. Now I want to share that hope with those who are in need .I wanted to give something back for both who fights against cancer and people who suffers from cancer. To achieve this, I have started a charity call

"Rays of Hope | බලාපොරොත්තුවේ අරැණැල්ල"

There are two main aims of our charity. First is to improve the quality of life of young cancer patients & their families in Cancer hospitals in Sri Lanka. Also, raising funds for UK Cancer charities. (McMillan/Anthony Nolan)

We are hoping to provide different types of support throughout our campaign the best way we can.

So , this is the first project of Rays Of Hope and appreciate your support to make this a successful project.

This was introduced to me by wife when I was taking treatments. It made me relax, calm and focus when I was battered so much with numerous meds/treatments. We wanted to carry that great idea in to this project by donating adult colouring books/colour pencils to palliative care team in Addenbrooke's hospital.

We are planning to purchase about 40 colouring books and 40 colour pencil boxes for this donation.

I have researched the market and the average price per book is about £5 and £3.50 for colouring pencils.

Please find below the details for the expected cost for the project.

40 colouring books @ £5 = £200

40 colouring pencils boxes @ £3.50 = £140

Total cost for the project = £340

Please note any suggestions are welcome. If you know a better place to buy these items in bulk for reasonable price please let us know.

How you help to achieve this !!!!

You can donate adult colouring books / colouring pencils or you can contribute money towards the total cost of £340.

Help us any way you can and thank you in advance..............

https://www.raysofhope.uk.com/

https://www.facebook.com/LetsGiveSomeOneElseaCHANCE/

Rays of Hope | බලාපොරොත්තුවේ අරුණැල්ල