"Know your support network, both inside and outside of work. Who will you go to if you are struggling? Who will you ask about time off for check-ups? Who can you have a moan to if you need to?"
Back in my thirties and forties fitness was something I did to prepare for the next physical challenge. I used to run the odd race and beforehand I’d train a bit harder. I was doing just this in the lead-up to my fiftieth birthday as I’d entered a half-marathon with my daughter.
“We believe in information – not pity”. This was exactly what I wanted when I got cancer. I did not want “poor you” comments. Neither did I want advice on eating miracle foods, nor alternative treatments...
Reassurance made me feel lonelier. When I was discharged from hospital after treatment, the flowers poured in, as did the well-wishing cards from family and friends.
It was exactly a year after finishing chemo almost to the day that I hopped on a plane with ten friends, off for a girls’ weekend to celebrate the birthday of one of our number...
Every newspaper tells you the latest advice: what we must avoid; what we must add to our lifestyle; how we must adhere to these new ever-changing goalposts just to live past this disease and prevent it coming back.
