In honour of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
As everyone who knows us is aware, our daughter has spent the last 4 months battling with Cancer after being diagnosed during the 2020 pandemic ‘Lockdown’ Period.
To raise awareness for Childhood Cancer month, I plan to share a blog post for every day of September to share just how much she has had to endure both physically and mentally during this time, and to show the sides of Cancer that people don’t see. We all know it’s awful, but it really is worse than you can ever imagine.
Before September starts, I want to make it clear that I am beyond appreciative of every single person who has been involved in Aurora’s care and treatment since diagnosis, and for QEQM (Margate), St. George’s Hospital (Tooting), and The Royal Marsden (Sutton) Hospitals that she has been admitted to over this time. Despite our differences at times, I have to be thankful that there is treatment out there to cure her, and regardless of errors, mistakes or mishaps, which there have been plenty, I believe the intentions of everyone working with her is good.
These posts are a true reflection of how I’ve felt during these times; emotional, sad, angry, happy, frustrated, betrayed and let down, among others but mainly overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with the amount of information I’ve had to take in, the medical jargon I’ve had to learn, and just how terrible chemotherapy has been on Aurora’s body.
Throughout the entire journey, I found that writing helped to clear my mind. Not only did I start a non-fiction book on what was happening with our family, but I also began a novel, and a children’s book about Cancer for children and siblings effected by the horrible disease.
Nobody sit’s you down and tells you exactly what to expect when it comes to supporting your child through chemotherapy, and that’s what was hard. Nobody was there to sit me down and tell me straight that it was the hardest thing we would ever have to do, that some days you would feel fine, and others you would feel dead inside. Some days you’d feel like mum, others you felt like nothing more than a carer, but now, 4 months down the line, nothing surprises me, and I treat every day as it comes, without expectation because anything will happen.
If you’re reading this, and you’ve been through it all before, I am deeply sorry that it happened to your family. If you’re reading this and thinking “I can’t imagine what it’s like”, I really pray you never have to.
Thank you to every one that has been so supportive over the past 4 months. Our friends and our families have all been amazing, and even people we don’t know personally have been supporting us throughout. To my work colleagues and my manager who have always checked in, my Marsden Mum’s who have shared laughter and late night tears with me, and my best friend Grace for being there every single step of the way and talked me down every time things got too much.
But mainly, thank you to Ethan. Thank you for bearing the weight of us all on your shoulders and for never once complaining. For helping me get through this when you were having to get through it yourself, and for being the Best Dad to all 3 of our kids, no matter how difficult, tiring, or lonely it’s been. I am eternally grateful for you and every single thing you do , every day.
In the UK, only 1 in every 500 children under 15 develops a cancer. About 1,600 children (up to the age of 15) in the UK are diagnosed with cancer each year. These cancers can be quite different from cancers affecting adults. They tend to occur in different parts of the body to adult cancers. They also look different under the microscope and respond differently to treatment. [1] – [1] Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (2014) Children and Young People with Cancer: A Parent’s Guide www.cclg.org.uk
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Growing Pains and Paper Planes 