Life After Cancer

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My Distraction

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Apr
16
2012
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Baby Boy was born on 1st April 2012 at 10.10am weighing 3.3kg (7lb 4oz) after a very quick birth! I am a very proud mummy. My oldest has taken quite well to being a big brother, although there is sometimes some jealousy when I feed him. Generally though, he has been a star, and I couldn't ask for more :-) Roz The informational content of this article is intended to convey general educational information and should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional healthcare advice. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Life After Cancer

Does it Ever Really Go Away?

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Jan
03
2012
Move on

In February 2010, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. In September 2010, I was declared in remission. In December 2010, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and was told I would have to have the other half of my thyroid removed. In February 2011, I had it removed, and was told that it was also malignant. Then in August, finally some good news. I was pregnant. And we have since found out we are having another baby boy and he is due on Easter Sunday. I am classed as a "high risk" pregnancy. To be totally honest, I thought that if anything was going to make for a complicated pregnancy, it would be because of my 6 months of chemo. I was wrong. What makes for a complicated pregnancy, is my thyroid, or lack of. I never thought that not having a thyroid would class me as a high risk pregnancy. Apparently, it does. I was told the other day that I talk about my cancer a lot. I think that when you have had cancer, it never goes away, even when you are in … [Read more...]

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Life Moves On

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Sep
23
2011
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A year ago today, I went for my end of treatment PET scan, which would go on to show that I had reached remission. As I'm sure you can imagine, the relief was wonderful. After seven long months, to find out that I had the all clear was the best news we could have hoped for. Life could move on. We could get on and do things we wanted to do. I could carry on being a mummy to my 18 month old son. Then of course, I found out I had thyroid cancer, and for a while, health issues came first once more, and I had to have various surgeries to get that fixed. In April, I got the all clear from that too, albeit, two days after an early miscarriage. However, I got on with things, even though it was hard, even though I was devastated at my loss, and so fed up that things just didn't seem to go right for me. Four long months later, and my son has something he'd like to tell you:   So,  please forgive me for being quiet over here. It has been so hard to keep this a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Life After Cancer

Young Adult Cancer Patients Need a Break!

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Apr
20
2011
Break Cancer

Did you know that every year almost 70,000 young adults between the ages of 15 and 40 are diagnosed with cancer? Did you also know that the survival rate for this age group has remained the same over the past three decades? Fortunately the Livestrong Young Adult Alliance is working on these problems, striving to boosting cancer survival rates and improving the quality of life for young adults with cancer.  They have brought together a coalition of organizations, like the I'm Too Young for This! Cancer Foundation and together they are going to make a difference. They know that things like delays in diagnosis, lack of health insurance coverage, overlooked early warning signs of cancer and lack of participation in cancer clinical trials are contributing to lower survival rates.  They also want to help young adult cancer patients face their own unique challenges, like: long-term effects from cancer treatments that need to be addressed over their lifetime, obstacles in … [Read more...]

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Let’s Talk About Life After Cancer

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Feb
25
2011

Hello again!  It's me, Selena.  In addition to being your Leukemia Power Writer, I also have the privilege of being your Life After Cancer Power Writer too. I was just reflecting on a pretty amazing fact the other day.  Did you know that I have lived 23 years beyond my leukemia cancer diagnosis?  The anniversary of my remission actually just happened earlier this month.  Did you also know that I have now lived more years as a cancer survivor than I have as just a plain old ordinary person without cancer? Pretty impressive for a girl that was only given a 33% chance to survive her cancer at the time of diagnosis in 1988. Looking back at all of this now in 2011, I have to say it is all pretty mind-boggling. When I finished treatment by my 23rd birthday--one I honestly didn't know if I would be here to enjoy--I had no idea what cancer survivorship would mean to me.  I didn't consider it might mean traveling through life with new problems and challenges that were the … [Read more...]

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