Initially I had a full time job as a Project Secretary for a very busy Engineering Company.

I was referred to the hospital with abdominal pains.  From there cancer was diagnosed and my life changed radically.  From a full-on work and social life one day, I was able to do literally nothing the next day!  The change was that rapid and that devastating.

Living on my own with two lively animals to look after ,  I was thrown into mental and physical chaos.  I was unable to do all my normal personal care and was reliant  on help for everything.  A humbling lesson.

I experienced immediate fear and despair and facing the unknown I felt I was caught between an unfulfilling life and death.  The operations  and chemotherapy made me feel one or the other alternately.  A rollercoaster of an experience that lasted for about 18 months.

From the first moment of diagnosis it was a choice ;  either I could sink into numbness or I could gradually discover what I was able to do.  I found that it was not important that it took half an hour to get from the sofa to the kitchen, nor that it mattered that it took another half an hour to make a cup of tea.  These were now wonderful achievements and I gradually moved forward from there.  I joined the Cancer Centre in August 2004 and tried out every possible creative idea from knitting a scarf to making cards and painting watercolours.  Not to mention the wonderful choir which has uplifted me for the past 3 years.

I had 3 years remission then back came the cancer  and the whole procedure started anew.  This really tested my spiritual side but with time and reflection on life my faith grew stronger.  More operations and more chemotherapy took place.  It is important though to remember that each encounter with cancer is a new journey not the same one again.  This time I had an army of friends lined up to walk this journey alongside me.  That plus the centre and the skills of the doctors and nurses at the Marsden enabled me into remission again.

Despite cancer and with the benefit of hindsight, these have been  the happiest and most fulfilling years of my life and I wouldn't want  to have missed them.