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In October 2012 I was diagnosed with Burkitts Lymphoma. It is a subtype of B cell Non Hodgkins Lymphoma and is a fast growing blood cancer. Whilst I was in the early stages of diagnosis, the tumour (which was in my throat at the base of my tongue), grew so much that I had little airway left to breathe. I had to have a generic chemotherapy treatment as an emergency until the final results came back from the biopsy. 

Because of how severe Burkitts is, I spent most of the next 6 months in hospital and only occasionally getting to see my son. He was only 19 months old when I was first diagnosed. I went through several complications throughout the regime. One particular complication almost killed me. Part of my regime was to be given Methotrexate via IV drip over 24 hours. The 1st time I had this done, it had gone quite smoothly, the 2nd time however, my body didn't let it go. I ended up with my kidneys failing and there were concerns over my liver and other organs. Because nothing was passing out of me, my body ballooned so much my skin hurt to move even the smallest amount. I had blisters the size of golf balls on my feet. I couldn't stay awake for more than 15 minutes at a time. I got severe stage 4 mucositis and was unable to eat or drink anything because nothing would stay down. I was still being sick though and the lining of my oesophagus was torn and raw. My lips became sealed at one point because of having an oxygen mask on and the acidic vomit that accumulated while I was asleep. They'd tried giving me dialysis to clean the Methotrexate out of my blood, but I wasn't able to cope with the treatment with how ill I already was. Fortunately they managed to get an antidote imported from Germany. It was an expensive solution for the NHS, but it was the miracle that saved my life. Even the staff who took such great care of me throughout, couldn't believe how rapidly I was improving after receiving this injection. I finally completed my regime and was released from hospital on my son's 2nd birthday, it was 5pm on 1st March 2013. I was left in a wheelchair and the simple action of pushing my heel into a shoe would cause my knees to buckle and I'd be on the floor. Every day activities was risky, simple things like climbing the stairs and having a bath. I needed help to do a lot of it. I'd had a commode and special mattress sent home with me and an extra piece of bannister installed to aid me in getting up and down the stairs. 

I was soon pushing myself into being able to walk around, look after my son and taking care of household chores. I managed to build my strength up enough to do the Race For Life on the 9th June 2013. I walked the 5k in an hour and raised approximately  £440. 

One side effect of the chemotherapy that I struggled with was losing all of my hair. I'd always took pride in my hair and although I didn't admit it at the time, I hated to see it go. I was given a catalogue to choose a wig from with various colours and styles. At the back of the catalogue was a picture of a young girl and boy with choices of wigs for children. That always stayed with me. To think of a child going through anything like what I did, it gives me a very heavy heart and a desire to want to do something to help. I couldn't bare to go as short as shaving my hair. But I have been letting my hair grow a lot, only getting a trim once a year to mark the anniversary of officially starting remission - 3rd April. I love having long hair again, but when I hopefully get the all clear in 2018, I plan on donating most of what I have grown to be made into a wig(s) for children and want to make it a sponsored event to raise money for CLIC Sargent. A charity that helps children going through treatment for cancer. They offer emotional and financial support to the patients and their families. They also help provide a home away from home to help the families stay with these children throughout treatment. I don't think I would have dealt as well as I did with everything if I hadn't have had the support I did from my son's father who was with me day and night and also my family coming to see me whenever they could. Even on times when I had so much of a headache it hurt to have my eyes open, it was just nice to be able to peek and see a pair of knees at my bedside and know they were there. It must be an incredibly scary thing for a child to go through and so I can appreciate how important it is that these children have the presence of loved ones with them. Obviously I would love for there to be a cure for all cancers, especially for children. I'm the first in my family to actually fight cancer and win. But until this discovery is made, I believe it's just as important to make the experience as nice as possible for those still battling this disease and to be able to help CLIC Sargent provide these patients and families with little holidays, so that life doesn't seem to be all about cancer. 

I've started this so far ahead of the event in the hopes of raising as much as possible. Please help me reach this goal and please help me and CLIC Sargent give these children a better quality of life. Any and all contributions will be hugely appreciated. Thanks so much for reading my story xx

(I would just like to offer an apology for any confusion over my name change. It's something I've procrastinated over for a long time and have recently decided to finally change it).

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