Being diagnosed with Leukaemia isn’t something a lot of people would probably celebrate the date of (but then I’ve never been normal, anyone who knows me will agree!) but for me I like to think about how lucky I am to be on the other side of it.
13 years is a long time ago now, don’t remember a lot of the details any more (wish I’d kept a diary at the time!) but it’s not a time in my life I’ll ever forget.
Also being that long ago there are a lot of people in my life that I didn’t know at the time so they don’t know about it. I’ve used many stories to explain the scars over the years, the one in my neck is most commonly a shark bite! If it ever comes up in conversation though I tend to avoid talking about it, not because I feel uncomfortable or upset but I just find it boring to talk about and there are many many many more interesting things to chat about!
A lot of the nurses often commented on my upbeat attitude towards it all, but I never saw the point of getting depressed or upset and all why me blah blah. It’s happening, may as well just get on with it and take the piss/makes some jokes as we go along. Some would say that’s using as humour as a coping mechanism, best way to go I say!
I often wonder how different my life would be if the whole situation never happened. I don’t think much would be different really, other than it really did show me how amazing friends and family can be when you really need them and I’ll never forget that (well I probably will with my terrible memory but you know what I mean).
I also just like to remind myself that some Leukaemia/Cancer stories do have an happy ending, so fuck you cancer!
If you are bored I’ve written some other posts on leukaemia day over the years:
One Reply to “Leukaemia Day – 13 Years On”