Claire's cancer story

After getting through primary breast cancer in 2022, I was diagnosed with incurable stage 4 secondary breast cancer in July 2023.

I had been experiencing a number of symptoms which were all initially dismissed by my oncologist and doctors and put down to other things. However, after harrassing my doctors I was finally taken seriously. I was referred to the gastro clinic and sent for an ultrasound and blood tests. I was rushed into hospital 4 days after my birthday as I had high calcium in my blood. I subsequently spent a week and a half as an inpatient, during which time I had a CT scan, liver biopsy and received my diagnosis. I was told that the cancer has managed to set up camp in my liver (where I had quote "innumerable lesions"... not ideal!) and bones (spine and pelvis). I then started chemotherapy urgently while I was still an inpatient (I was told, if they waited for the biopsy results, I might not be strong enough to have treatment). Since that time my life has been a whirlwind of hospital appointments and treatments to try to get the cancer under control.

As my cancer is not curable, the treatments are designed to help me to stay alive and give me a good quality of life for as long as possible. I will have scans every 3 months to check progress, and my first scan showed that so far I am having a good response to treatment, which is excellent news! However, with every scan there is renewed anxiety that treatment may have stopped working or the cancer may have spread more.

Obviously the news that I have incurable cancer came as a massive shock, but I am keeping positive and I am determined to stay alive for as long as possible and make the most of my life, however much time I have left. With that in mind I decided to create a bucket list (although I think a more appropriate name is a 'life is for living list') including holidays, activities and experiences, so that I can create memories and live my life to the fullest while I can.

As I'm sure you're aware, cancer treatment notoriously has some pretty rubbish side effects. I have experienced fatigue, pain, skin rashes, aching bones, not being able to sleep, losing my hair and peripheral neuropathy to name a few (it's super fun!). So, as I will be on treatment for the rest of my life, I am looking into complementary therapies, for example, acupuncture, reflexology and shiatsu, to help manage the side effects and enable me to live as normally as possible. These treatments cost around £50-70 per session minimum, with more specialised therapies with cancer trained therapists costing even more.

It recently struck me that when you have all the time in the world laid out ahead of you, there's no rush... you have a holiday here and an experience there, and over the years you do all the things you want to do.... (you also have time to earn money over the years to fund these activities!). However, having stage 4 cancer means cramming 40 years of life into whatever time I have left.

It feels very strange to be requesting money (although to be honest everything in my life feels kind of surreal right now), but any donations would enable me to ease the financial burden of cancer... to access therapies to keep me feeling as well as possible and also help me to start ticking some experiences off the 'life is for living list'. I appreciate money is tight for everyone right now, but anything you can contribute would be massively appreciated and I would be eternally grateful. Or if you are unable to donate, if you could share with others that would be amazing.

I will finish off by saying a huge thank you for reading this and take this opportunity to remind you to give your boobs a grope!

Life is fragile and precious and short, don't take anything for granted, spend quality time with family and friends, and live your best lives, as you never know what is round the corner! ✨️

And finally I'd like to say a big F#@k you to Cancer!!!

Lots of love ❤️ Claire xxx