Charity walk for the Sandra Chapman Unit

For the past 6 months my husband James has been undergoing intense weekly chemotherapy treatment after being diagnosed in May 2019 with stage 4 bowel cancer. Life changed as we know it from this day on. Every friday since July, we have visited the Sandra Chapman Unit at the James Paget Hospital for James to receive a combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy to manage the tumour growth. The kindness and positivity we have received from the Sandra Chapman unit has been incredible; nurses, healthcare assistants, doctors, receptionists devoted to providing exceptional care always with a smile and time for everyone. Being a smaller hospital, we have nearly always been the youngest pair on the unit, and have made some unlikely older companions! I am writing this to raise awareness of younger people going through chemotherapy & radiotherapy. My husband turned 30 last year, and I think it's safe to say I did not think my 27th birthday would be spent with an Oncology consultant. The immense lifestyle change my husband has faced has been a battle mentally, aside to the increased hygiene and infection risk which can be very isolating, the inability to do simple things like go to work, go to the gym/swim, go shopping, eat takeaway, go out past 9pm ... all of which James loved to do, especially exercise. He has taken all of this in his stride retaining his sense of humour during some pretty tough moments. On 14th March 2020 I am going to be walking the Suffolk Coast path with my dad and wonderful friend Hannah, from Lowestoft to Southwold, 17 miles, which we are aiming to do in 4/5 hours. 4 to 5 hours is how much time it takes for James to receive his chemotherapy treatment. Most people have treatment every 3 weeks but James experiences this every week. Some days it can be over 6 hours, through having a blood test the day before, having pre-meds, getting to the hospital to have observations taken, and then being cannulated up, to wait for the pharmacy to prep the treatment. This is aside to the side effects experienced at home which for James is an intense rash all over this body, some nausea, change in tastes and extreme fatigue which impacts on average 4 out of 7 days in his week. All that being said this treatment has meant James has gone from being on 5 different lots of painkillers a day and in constant discomfort to regaining his weight, strength and appetite. We honestly do not feel we would have such a positive attitude without the warmth and compassion of the staff at the Sandra Chapman Unit, who see around 60 patients every day, each of whom receive the dedicated high standard of care James has. Thank you for taking the time to read this and if you are able to donate please do. All proceeds will be going to the Sandra Chapman Unit, which relies heavily on donations to keep giving the life saving treatment it does in the form of oncology and haematology. https://www.jpaget.nhs.uk/departments-services/departments-services-a-z/oncology/