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My Story

It is my 60th birthday this year & I wanted to do something for my friends who supported me through my challenge’s past & present. Some of my friends are going through their or a family member battle with cancer. My health has been deteriorating over the past few years & though it is different what I am doing is a huge challenge.

I first had cancer when I was 38yrs old (a wife & mother working, with four young children 3x boys + 1xgirl) I was having a shower ready to go to work & was stopped in my tracks by a sharp pain in my back & leg – I struggled even sitting down.

My husband was at work so my parents took me to my doctors, I was examined then told to go to hospital as I might have a slipped spinal disc (I refused to go, so the doctor prescribed me some pain relief & said they would ring me later).

The pain relief did not work so I went to hospital to get checked, an MRI scan showed that I had a large shadow at the base of my spine – I was rushed to another hospital to have emergency surgery.

I had a rare form of cancer a spinal tumour, it was called a ‘Ependymoma’ usually only found in the brains of young children (this was the start of my battle.

Over the next few years, I had to learn to walk again then I was hit with my next bomb shell. After a routine MRI scan, it was found that I had a bleed on the brain followed by a brain tumour.

My mobility was never the same but eventually I was able to drive again & to do more physical activities.

In December 2018, I was able to walk holding a walking stick at my eldest son wedding but then an additional bomb shell in early January 2019. I had 3x Strokes, one after another including a few falls.

A year went by & with help I managed to start walking with a frame but then one day unexpectedly I collapsed again & told this time it was a Stroke, I had two of these following by over 10x TIA’s but this time I was left with uncontrollable movement in my left side of my body (because of this I am now unable to do all the things able people take for granted, I rely on others for everything including walking.

When the doctors were trying to find a reason for my Strokes, Seizures etc, they found a rare blood condition called ‘Hughes syndrome’ also known as “sticky blood syndrome” or antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), is an autoimmune condition that affects the way that your blood cells bind together, or clot. Hughes syndrome is considered rare. It cannot be cured but is controlled by blood checks & blood thinners.

My GP has said that I can only do the ‘Race For Life’ if I have my husband (carer) & two others to support me. So, the plan is for me to walk for a short while holding on to my manual wheelchair with my support around me then my support pushing me in my wheelchair part way, then again me pushing part way.

I choose not to revile my friends & their families names because they are going through enough without people bombarding them (they know who they are). Just that I am doing this for (a female friend early 60’s with advance cancer, her granddaughter age 8yrs with leukaemia, a female friend daughter in early 30’s with an advance Brain Tumour, a female friend with Breast cancer.

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