Coffee Cups for Colon Cancer
Donation protected
Hello! My name is Tarin, I am 32 years old. I am a mother of two beautiful children aged 3 and 1 years, and I am a wife, a sister, a daughter, an aunty, a friend, and more recently I gained the title of colon (aka bowel) cancer ‘victim’. So, why are you reading about me, and what does coffee cups have to do with colon cancer? Well, there’s a few reasons but before I get to my story, I want to let you know why I’m doing this…
· First and foremost, I want to raise awareness – bowel cancer, I feel like I haven’t even heard of it – but of course I should have, its killing 4,000 of us Aussies every single year but I (and probably you?) had never given it so much as a second thought. Did you know that bowel cancer has been the most common cause of cancer death for those aged 25–29? Being young does not make you immune to bowel cancer. No one knows your body better than you, so listen to it and if something isn't right or you are at increased bowel cancer risk (i.e. family history – if anyone in your blood related family has had bowel cancer OR non-cancerous polyps, PLEASE book in for a colonoscopy!), make an appointment to speak with your doctor as soon as possible. 15,000 Australian’s are diagnosed each year, 1 in 13 Australians will develop the disease in their lifetime and less than 40% of bowel cancers are detected early. That’s a crazy amount of bowel cancer going undetected!!
· Secondly, I want to fundraise to help my family – my health issues are putting a lot of stress on my family; emotionally, physically and financially… so I want to fundraise to cover some of the medical bills we are receiving and lessen the burden that is put on my husband, and in turn my children. It’s a super hard thing to feel that you’ve put your family into this unwanted situation not knowingly, and to then not be able to do something about it makes it all that much harder. But instead of doing nothing, I’ve decided to raise awareness and fundraise by sharing my story and also by helping others to be AWARE of their health and their bodies.
· Lastly, I want to raise awareness about our private health system and how GOOD it really is – I know we all complain about the 1 April increase each year and we often think ‘paying this amount of money to get my teeth cleaned for free once per year just isn’t worth it’ but PLEASE consider always keeping your private health insurance current. It quite literally SAVED me from waiting very long and going mentally insane, or from needing to remortgage my house to afford all of the medicals bills, and it also gave me a feeling of comfort being in my own room in hospital – nothing like having your own bathroom after having 40% of your bowel removed!! Did you know that people with a positive screen for bowel cancer and those with bowel cancer symptoms can wait up to 120 days to get a colonoscopy in the public system. ONE HUNDRED AND 20 DAYS, otherwise known as FOUR MONTHS… ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! I waited ONE WEEK from my referral being issued to the day I walked in and had a colonoscopy – SEVEN DAYS, if you don’t have private health insurance you have to wait up to 4 MONTHS, EVEN if you have SYMPTOMS. Do you know that my surgeon told me I had probably been living with the bowel cancer for 6 months, and that it was way bigger than he expected it to be… And they want YOU to wait 4 MONTHS to have a colonoscopy, even if they think you have bowel cancer!!! How much damage could that bastard do in that amount of time?!?! Now I don’t blame the public system for any of it, and sure they’re doing the best they can – but please trust me when I tell you having private health insurance (and in my opinion, it must be through HBF) is 100% NECESSARY.
OK, so if you’ve gotten this far THANK YOU for reading, now here is my story:
It has been just a few short months since I noticed something wasn’t quite right… It was Australia Day weekend and we were travelling home from Yallingup when I ended up in extreme pain with ‘stomach cramps’ – they lasted a few hours and I put it down to a big weekend of eating, drinking and enjoying life!
Two weeks went by with no further issues, but mid-February came and I had constant moderate pains for about 7 days, this time I put it down to ‘women’s issues’ and after the week of pain it went away and again I continued with life as normal.
It wasn’t until around early March that I had another episode of extreme cramps that I realised something definitely wasn’t right – it was a Thursday morning and I was at home with my two children after hubby had left for work, the pain was so bad that I ended up on the couch in tears. I booked myself a doctors appointment for later that morning.
By this point I was starting to worry a little – generally speaking, I am not a worrier and I don’t jump to conclusions, but I know my body VERY WELL and I have a well-tuned intuition. I am healthy and fit (just don’t ask me to run!), I eat well and drink green smoothies, I go to the gym – I barely get a cold in the middle of flu season! I absolutely KNEW this wasn’t nothing. Of course, my mum, sister, husband and friends all told me the usual thing you say when something like this is happening “you’ll be fine, definitely get it checked out but I am sure its nothing to worry about” – I cannot count the number of times I heard this sentence (or a variety of it) over the last 8 weeks. And I always knew they were just saying what their instinct told them to say and trying to help me remain positive, but every time I heard it I wanted to scream YOU’RE WRONG, STOP WITH THE POSITIVITY!!
So I arrived at the doctor a couple of hours later and at that stage I had recounted every feeling of discomfort or pain, and any other ‘symptoms’ I could possibly relate to the issue over the last few months. They were all such minor things that you could easily brush off as nothing; slightly less energy on my regular morning walks that never used to phase me in the slightest, gurgling and popping sounds in my tummy at night when I laid down in bed, bowel movements much more regularly than normal (I started going 4 or so times per day), and then there were the cramping pains that I have already explained above (but they were few and far between!). I remember telling my daughter a few times “wow, mummy’s tired going up this hill” and she would respond “oh no, don’t fall asleep now mumma”.
My normal doctor wasn’t available so I saw another GP, she organised blood and stool tests and asked the question I was waiting for “do you have a family history of bowel cancer”. Now I can’t really tell you how I knew that she was right, I just did, in that moment right there I knew! My symptoms weren’t entirely conclusive of bowel cancer symptoms but I had done a Dr Google diagnosis and a few lined up so when she asked that question, I knew what the outcome of this would be. I wasn’t being paranoid or jumping to conclusions, my ‘gut feeling’ told me this was serious, and it was. I recalled telling a friend and a work colleague (on separate occasions) “I just don’t feel myself lately, I can’t pinpoint anything being wrong, I just feel off” … intuition / listening to your gut (literally in this case!).
The next day my blood and stool results came back normal, no parasites, no infections, no nothing – just low iron. Which could definitely count for my low energy! So I had an iron infusion and took some antibiotics, just in case there was an infection that didn’t show up on the test results. And with that, I could have relaxed and moved on from all of this, put it down to ‘nothing serious’ and gotten on with life. Except I wasn’t convinced… A few days later I went back to my normal doctor, I explained what had been going on the last few days with my test results and the antibiotics, and I asked her “do you think I could have bowel cancer” her response “oh no, absolutely not, I think it is just an infection”. I requested a referral for a colonoscopy regardless of her opinion, she gave me one and I tried to book it in – 4 weeks wait in the private system!! That was far too long, my work colleague told me to ring around other specialists for an earlier appointment (who even knew you could do that? BIG thank you to her for pushing me forward!). So I rang around and got in the following week – 7 days later.
In the meantime, I ended up in emergency one afternoon – the cramping pain was so severe I felt like I was in labour again!! This time, with no baby as a reward at the end for all my hard work. The emergency department monitored me, took my blood, took more blood, and took more blood – everything came back normal, the emergency department doctor said my blood was “pristine”. I was given heavy pain killer, discharged and told to go home and wait for my colonoscopy, he was sure I would have a result from that procedure. And I must say, I thank my lucky stars daily that I had such extreme pains because if it weren’t for how bad it got this day I may have not taken this any further…
So I went home and read over the notes for the procedure the following week, I remembered they had listed a low fiber diet to assist with the colonoscopy preparation. The next morning I went to the shop and bought all the white food – rice bubbles, crumpets, yoghurt, milk, chicken with no skin, and for the next few days I had absolutely NO issues! No pain, no gurgling, no excess bowel movements, nothing – I felt cured, and questioned if I was just experiencing IBS? I even said to my mum “if I didn’t know better, I would cancel my colonoscopy, I feel 100% normal for the first time in months”. But I didn’t cancel, I knew better than that.
The day of my colonoscopy came and my mum picked me up from my house “are you nervous” she asked me, “not about the procedure, no… the result on the other hand, scares me beyond words”. By this stage I knew that 50% of Australians have polyps in their lifetime – polyps are found in the bowel, if left polyps turn into cancer. I also knew 40% of bowel cancer goes undetected because the symptoms are mostly silent, and I knew that bowel cancer was the second biggest killer of Australians (after lung cancer).
My colonoscopy doctor asked me a series of questions, and I knew he knew – without even doing the colonoscopy he knew. A couple of the questions he asked which are VERY indicative of Bowel Cancer are blood and/or mucus in stools. By this stage, I had in the days prior to my emergency room visit, experienced blood and mucus when I went to the toilet – BAD, bad signs! So I was wheeled in for my colonoscopy, and I went to sleep as Tarin, but I woke up as the 32 year old mum with bowel cancer. Now, of course I know I am still me and I absolutely do not label myself as someone that ‘HAS CANCER’ but every nurse, doctor and orderly in the hospital that day had the anguish of it on their faces and in their voices – it was caring to witness, yet totally unravelling at the same time.
In my sleepy haze I heard the doctor tell the nurses that I was fasting, I knew that wasn’t right, I’ve had my colonoscopy why am I still fasting? I forced myself awake and the doctor asked me if I wanted to wait for my husband and mum to arrive before he delivered the results, that ONE word that everyone is so frightened to hear – the big C!
All of the nurses, the orderlies, and the doctors were amazing – so much compassion and care in everything they do and say, but of course, I was still the 32 year old mum of two small children who had just been diagnosed with bowel cancer and they all FELT it with me and I felt them.
From that moment on life became a haze of tears and hugs, appointments and results, anxiousness and a whole lot of WAITING. There is one thing I have tried to do for years now and that is slow down time, try with all my might I could never accomplish it – nothing like being told you have cancer to make time stand still.
So I had a CT scan that day, and the next day I met with my surgeon and those 24 hours waiting to find out if the cancer has spread through your body might possibly be the most SICKENING day of life. But it hadn’t – HALLELUJAH – it hadn’t spread much further than the bowel (a few lymph nodes and so maybe a tiny bit of chemo, says my surgeon, nothing to worry about apparently!). Surgery was then booked for the following Wednesday (a long wait apparently, due to 2 public holidays) – ONE working days wait, all hail the private medical system and HBF!! I cannot express enough how this saved my mind from going crazy, and quite possibly saved the tumour growing or the cancer spreading to any more lymph nodes. If anyone wants to know the value of their private health insurance, go and get yourself a cancer (no, don’t really – just trust me on that one and keep paying your private health! Have I said that enough to convince you yet?!).
The surgery was hard, the recovery was harder, but all the cancer was gone – thanks to my AMAZING surgeon, doctors and nurses at SJOG Murdoch! I cannot rave about that hospital enough, I felt so comfortable and safe, everyone is lovely and accommodating – they really make a bad situation a whole lot easier.
And now here I am, no cancer (that can be seen) left in my body but needing chemotherapy as an extra precaution due to my young age – 6 months of it, every fortnight for 6 months, just in case.
And so my journey is just getting started. That’s the problem with the sneaky beast, it can be growing inside of you and you not even know it… The most frightening thing in this life would have to be the unknown, of what today or tomorrow may bring, the fear of losing life – your own or a loved one. It can be crippling, for your mind and your body, if you let it get inside you (the fear, not the cancer) … but it wont solve any of it, and you won’t feel any better for it – so keep living, keep doing life your own way, be present in the moment, SEE your kids, friends & family, HEAR your kids, friends & family, FEEL your kids, friends & family – for in life, those are the MOMENTS that matter, those are the moments that become MEMORIES, and those are the things that you’ll live for when you’ve been through something traumatic that helps you to realise what you’re here for.
So the road ahead of me is rough, and challenging and far from over – its not a 6 week journey healing from surgery, and not even a 6 month journey undertaking chemotherapy, nor is it a 5 year journey to beat the odds and make it to remission (although that’s the major milestone)… Being told you have cancer, that’s a lifelong journey – that shit sticks with you forever, and dictates your life for a long time. But there are things you can do to improve your health and help decrease your risk of future disease – a few easy ones I’ve learnt recently (these specifically relate to bowel cancer but are totally GREAT for everyday life and ALL diseases)… less alcohol (well they said NONE but come on, life is for living after all!), no processed meat, LOTS of fish, daily exercise, less red meat (never chargrilled on the BBQ), LOTS of fruits and vegetables, less sugar, more wholegrains and seeds.
From the get go of this journey I have had TWO things I am eternally grateful for, one is that I was given a chance to fight this and two that it was me and not either of my kids. As I sit on my couch, looking out the open door at this sunlit Mother's Day (Sunday, 13 May 2018), I am thankful for the most AMAZINGLY supportive husband, family & friends I could ever have dreamt up, for an INCREDIBLY talented team of doctors and nurses at SJOG Murdoch, and for the ABSOLUTE BEST carers / teachers at Mulberry Tree Child Care. Without all of you, I would quite possibly have crumbled.
So before I leave you I want to recap my main reason for writing all of this, I was inspired by Stan Walker telling his story of stomach cancer (if you didn’t catch it the other night – go and find it, a great watch!) and I am inspired to help people realise the part you can play in your own life – I want YOU to listen to your body, to trust YOUR OWN gut instinct, to question ANYTHING that you’re not feeling right about, and to go and see your GP if you have ANY unusual symptoms. YOU can save your own life, and only YOU know your body! Your GP can only take an educated guess, but YOU can help them determine what it might be that you’re going through.
So you’ve read all the way to the end and you STILL haven’t heard a thing about these damn coffee cups?! Well, to help ME fundraise and to keep YOU in check, I have designed two reusable coffee cups with my favourite words BELIEVE and CARPE DIEM (shout out to my dad) printed on them. What do coffee cups have to do with colon cancer you ask? Absolutely nothing, I just LOVE coffee… So for every donation above $30 (within Australia only) a coffee cup will be purchased on your behalf and posted to you providing you give me your address! So, this isn't just about helping me and my family, EVERY time you pour a coffee (or a tea!) into your BELIEVE or CARPE DIEM cup, I want you to think of me and check in with your body – ask it how it is feeling; are you feeding it enough greens, giving it enough fresh air, moving it enough… THIS IS YOUR ONE BODY, THIS IS YOUR ONE LIFE – TREAT IT WITH RESPECT, APPRECIATE IT EVERY DAY, and NEVER TAKE IT FOR GRANTED.
My mission is to send out 100 coffee cups and in turn help 100 Aussies save their own lives simply through improving their lifestyle and tuning into their bodies.
With love, Tarin
xoxo
· First and foremost, I want to raise awareness – bowel cancer, I feel like I haven’t even heard of it – but of course I should have, its killing 4,000 of us Aussies every single year but I (and probably you?) had never given it so much as a second thought. Did you know that bowel cancer has been the most common cause of cancer death for those aged 25–29? Being young does not make you immune to bowel cancer. No one knows your body better than you, so listen to it and if something isn't right or you are at increased bowel cancer risk (i.e. family history – if anyone in your blood related family has had bowel cancer OR non-cancerous polyps, PLEASE book in for a colonoscopy!), make an appointment to speak with your doctor as soon as possible. 15,000 Australian’s are diagnosed each year, 1 in 13 Australians will develop the disease in their lifetime and less than 40% of bowel cancers are detected early. That’s a crazy amount of bowel cancer going undetected!!
· Secondly, I want to fundraise to help my family – my health issues are putting a lot of stress on my family; emotionally, physically and financially… so I want to fundraise to cover some of the medical bills we are receiving and lessen the burden that is put on my husband, and in turn my children. It’s a super hard thing to feel that you’ve put your family into this unwanted situation not knowingly, and to then not be able to do something about it makes it all that much harder. But instead of doing nothing, I’ve decided to raise awareness and fundraise by sharing my story and also by helping others to be AWARE of their health and their bodies.
· Lastly, I want to raise awareness about our private health system and how GOOD it really is – I know we all complain about the 1 April increase each year and we often think ‘paying this amount of money to get my teeth cleaned for free once per year just isn’t worth it’ but PLEASE consider always keeping your private health insurance current. It quite literally SAVED me from waiting very long and going mentally insane, or from needing to remortgage my house to afford all of the medicals bills, and it also gave me a feeling of comfort being in my own room in hospital – nothing like having your own bathroom after having 40% of your bowel removed!! Did you know that people with a positive screen for bowel cancer and those with bowel cancer symptoms can wait up to 120 days to get a colonoscopy in the public system. ONE HUNDRED AND 20 DAYS, otherwise known as FOUR MONTHS… ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! I waited ONE WEEK from my referral being issued to the day I walked in and had a colonoscopy – SEVEN DAYS, if you don’t have private health insurance you have to wait up to 4 MONTHS, EVEN if you have SYMPTOMS. Do you know that my surgeon told me I had probably been living with the bowel cancer for 6 months, and that it was way bigger than he expected it to be… And they want YOU to wait 4 MONTHS to have a colonoscopy, even if they think you have bowel cancer!!! How much damage could that bastard do in that amount of time?!?! Now I don’t blame the public system for any of it, and sure they’re doing the best they can – but please trust me when I tell you having private health insurance (and in my opinion, it must be through HBF) is 100% NECESSARY.
OK, so if you’ve gotten this far THANK YOU for reading, now here is my story:
It has been just a few short months since I noticed something wasn’t quite right… It was Australia Day weekend and we were travelling home from Yallingup when I ended up in extreme pain with ‘stomach cramps’ – they lasted a few hours and I put it down to a big weekend of eating, drinking and enjoying life!
Two weeks went by with no further issues, but mid-February came and I had constant moderate pains for about 7 days, this time I put it down to ‘women’s issues’ and after the week of pain it went away and again I continued with life as normal.
It wasn’t until around early March that I had another episode of extreme cramps that I realised something definitely wasn’t right – it was a Thursday morning and I was at home with my two children after hubby had left for work, the pain was so bad that I ended up on the couch in tears. I booked myself a doctors appointment for later that morning.
By this point I was starting to worry a little – generally speaking, I am not a worrier and I don’t jump to conclusions, but I know my body VERY WELL and I have a well-tuned intuition. I am healthy and fit (just don’t ask me to run!), I eat well and drink green smoothies, I go to the gym – I barely get a cold in the middle of flu season! I absolutely KNEW this wasn’t nothing. Of course, my mum, sister, husband and friends all told me the usual thing you say when something like this is happening “you’ll be fine, definitely get it checked out but I am sure its nothing to worry about” – I cannot count the number of times I heard this sentence (or a variety of it) over the last 8 weeks. And I always knew they were just saying what their instinct told them to say and trying to help me remain positive, but every time I heard it I wanted to scream YOU’RE WRONG, STOP WITH THE POSITIVITY!!
So I arrived at the doctor a couple of hours later and at that stage I had recounted every feeling of discomfort or pain, and any other ‘symptoms’ I could possibly relate to the issue over the last few months. They were all such minor things that you could easily brush off as nothing; slightly less energy on my regular morning walks that never used to phase me in the slightest, gurgling and popping sounds in my tummy at night when I laid down in bed, bowel movements much more regularly than normal (I started going 4 or so times per day), and then there were the cramping pains that I have already explained above (but they were few and far between!). I remember telling my daughter a few times “wow, mummy’s tired going up this hill” and she would respond “oh no, don’t fall asleep now mumma”.
My normal doctor wasn’t available so I saw another GP, she organised blood and stool tests and asked the question I was waiting for “do you have a family history of bowel cancer”. Now I can’t really tell you how I knew that she was right, I just did, in that moment right there I knew! My symptoms weren’t entirely conclusive of bowel cancer symptoms but I had done a Dr Google diagnosis and a few lined up so when she asked that question, I knew what the outcome of this would be. I wasn’t being paranoid or jumping to conclusions, my ‘gut feeling’ told me this was serious, and it was. I recalled telling a friend and a work colleague (on separate occasions) “I just don’t feel myself lately, I can’t pinpoint anything being wrong, I just feel off” … intuition / listening to your gut (literally in this case!).
The next day my blood and stool results came back normal, no parasites, no infections, no nothing – just low iron. Which could definitely count for my low energy! So I had an iron infusion and took some antibiotics, just in case there was an infection that didn’t show up on the test results. And with that, I could have relaxed and moved on from all of this, put it down to ‘nothing serious’ and gotten on with life. Except I wasn’t convinced… A few days later I went back to my normal doctor, I explained what had been going on the last few days with my test results and the antibiotics, and I asked her “do you think I could have bowel cancer” her response “oh no, absolutely not, I think it is just an infection”. I requested a referral for a colonoscopy regardless of her opinion, she gave me one and I tried to book it in – 4 weeks wait in the private system!! That was far too long, my work colleague told me to ring around other specialists for an earlier appointment (who even knew you could do that? BIG thank you to her for pushing me forward!). So I rang around and got in the following week – 7 days later.
In the meantime, I ended up in emergency one afternoon – the cramping pain was so severe I felt like I was in labour again!! This time, with no baby as a reward at the end for all my hard work. The emergency department monitored me, took my blood, took more blood, and took more blood – everything came back normal, the emergency department doctor said my blood was “pristine”. I was given heavy pain killer, discharged and told to go home and wait for my colonoscopy, he was sure I would have a result from that procedure. And I must say, I thank my lucky stars daily that I had such extreme pains because if it weren’t for how bad it got this day I may have not taken this any further…
So I went home and read over the notes for the procedure the following week, I remembered they had listed a low fiber diet to assist with the colonoscopy preparation. The next morning I went to the shop and bought all the white food – rice bubbles, crumpets, yoghurt, milk, chicken with no skin, and for the next few days I had absolutely NO issues! No pain, no gurgling, no excess bowel movements, nothing – I felt cured, and questioned if I was just experiencing IBS? I even said to my mum “if I didn’t know better, I would cancel my colonoscopy, I feel 100% normal for the first time in months”. But I didn’t cancel, I knew better than that.
The day of my colonoscopy came and my mum picked me up from my house “are you nervous” she asked me, “not about the procedure, no… the result on the other hand, scares me beyond words”. By this stage I knew that 50% of Australians have polyps in their lifetime – polyps are found in the bowel, if left polyps turn into cancer. I also knew 40% of bowel cancer goes undetected because the symptoms are mostly silent, and I knew that bowel cancer was the second biggest killer of Australians (after lung cancer).
My colonoscopy doctor asked me a series of questions, and I knew he knew – without even doing the colonoscopy he knew. A couple of the questions he asked which are VERY indicative of Bowel Cancer are blood and/or mucus in stools. By this stage, I had in the days prior to my emergency room visit, experienced blood and mucus when I went to the toilet – BAD, bad signs! So I was wheeled in for my colonoscopy, and I went to sleep as Tarin, but I woke up as the 32 year old mum with bowel cancer. Now, of course I know I am still me and I absolutely do not label myself as someone that ‘HAS CANCER’ but every nurse, doctor and orderly in the hospital that day had the anguish of it on their faces and in their voices – it was caring to witness, yet totally unravelling at the same time.
In my sleepy haze I heard the doctor tell the nurses that I was fasting, I knew that wasn’t right, I’ve had my colonoscopy why am I still fasting? I forced myself awake and the doctor asked me if I wanted to wait for my husband and mum to arrive before he delivered the results, that ONE word that everyone is so frightened to hear – the big C!
All of the nurses, the orderlies, and the doctors were amazing – so much compassion and care in everything they do and say, but of course, I was still the 32 year old mum of two small children who had just been diagnosed with bowel cancer and they all FELT it with me and I felt them.
From that moment on life became a haze of tears and hugs, appointments and results, anxiousness and a whole lot of WAITING. There is one thing I have tried to do for years now and that is slow down time, try with all my might I could never accomplish it – nothing like being told you have cancer to make time stand still.
So I had a CT scan that day, and the next day I met with my surgeon and those 24 hours waiting to find out if the cancer has spread through your body might possibly be the most SICKENING day of life. But it hadn’t – HALLELUJAH – it hadn’t spread much further than the bowel (a few lymph nodes and so maybe a tiny bit of chemo, says my surgeon, nothing to worry about apparently!). Surgery was then booked for the following Wednesday (a long wait apparently, due to 2 public holidays) – ONE working days wait, all hail the private medical system and HBF!! I cannot express enough how this saved my mind from going crazy, and quite possibly saved the tumour growing or the cancer spreading to any more lymph nodes. If anyone wants to know the value of their private health insurance, go and get yourself a cancer (no, don’t really – just trust me on that one and keep paying your private health! Have I said that enough to convince you yet?!).
The surgery was hard, the recovery was harder, but all the cancer was gone – thanks to my AMAZING surgeon, doctors and nurses at SJOG Murdoch! I cannot rave about that hospital enough, I felt so comfortable and safe, everyone is lovely and accommodating – they really make a bad situation a whole lot easier.
And now here I am, no cancer (that can be seen) left in my body but needing chemotherapy as an extra precaution due to my young age – 6 months of it, every fortnight for 6 months, just in case.
And so my journey is just getting started. That’s the problem with the sneaky beast, it can be growing inside of you and you not even know it… The most frightening thing in this life would have to be the unknown, of what today or tomorrow may bring, the fear of losing life – your own or a loved one. It can be crippling, for your mind and your body, if you let it get inside you (the fear, not the cancer) … but it wont solve any of it, and you won’t feel any better for it – so keep living, keep doing life your own way, be present in the moment, SEE your kids, friends & family, HEAR your kids, friends & family, FEEL your kids, friends & family – for in life, those are the MOMENTS that matter, those are the moments that become MEMORIES, and those are the things that you’ll live for when you’ve been through something traumatic that helps you to realise what you’re here for.
So the road ahead of me is rough, and challenging and far from over – its not a 6 week journey healing from surgery, and not even a 6 month journey undertaking chemotherapy, nor is it a 5 year journey to beat the odds and make it to remission (although that’s the major milestone)… Being told you have cancer, that’s a lifelong journey – that shit sticks with you forever, and dictates your life for a long time. But there are things you can do to improve your health and help decrease your risk of future disease – a few easy ones I’ve learnt recently (these specifically relate to bowel cancer but are totally GREAT for everyday life and ALL diseases)… less alcohol (well they said NONE but come on, life is for living after all!), no processed meat, LOTS of fish, daily exercise, less red meat (never chargrilled on the BBQ), LOTS of fruits and vegetables, less sugar, more wholegrains and seeds.
From the get go of this journey I have had TWO things I am eternally grateful for, one is that I was given a chance to fight this and two that it was me and not either of my kids. As I sit on my couch, looking out the open door at this sunlit Mother's Day (Sunday, 13 May 2018), I am thankful for the most AMAZINGLY supportive husband, family & friends I could ever have dreamt up, for an INCREDIBLY talented team of doctors and nurses at SJOG Murdoch, and for the ABSOLUTE BEST carers / teachers at Mulberry Tree Child Care. Without all of you, I would quite possibly have crumbled.
So before I leave you I want to recap my main reason for writing all of this, I was inspired by Stan Walker telling his story of stomach cancer (if you didn’t catch it the other night – go and find it, a great watch!) and I am inspired to help people realise the part you can play in your own life – I want YOU to listen to your body, to trust YOUR OWN gut instinct, to question ANYTHING that you’re not feeling right about, and to go and see your GP if you have ANY unusual symptoms. YOU can save your own life, and only YOU know your body! Your GP can only take an educated guess, but YOU can help them determine what it might be that you’re going through.
So you’ve read all the way to the end and you STILL haven’t heard a thing about these damn coffee cups?! Well, to help ME fundraise and to keep YOU in check, I have designed two reusable coffee cups with my favourite words BELIEVE and CARPE DIEM (shout out to my dad) printed on them. What do coffee cups have to do with colon cancer you ask? Absolutely nothing, I just LOVE coffee… So for every donation above $30 (within Australia only) a coffee cup will be purchased on your behalf and posted to you providing you give me your address! So, this isn't just about helping me and my family, EVERY time you pour a coffee (or a tea!) into your BELIEVE or CARPE DIEM cup, I want you to think of me and check in with your body – ask it how it is feeling; are you feeding it enough greens, giving it enough fresh air, moving it enough… THIS IS YOUR ONE BODY, THIS IS YOUR ONE LIFE – TREAT IT WITH RESPECT, APPRECIATE IT EVERY DAY, and NEVER TAKE IT FOR GRANTED.
My mission is to send out 100 coffee cups and in turn help 100 Aussies save their own lives simply through improving their lifestyle and tuning into their bodies.
With love, Tarin
xoxo
Organizer
Tarin Paniora
Organizer
Bibra Lake WA
