50 Facts About Me

1. I love candles. 

2. I have a Male's blood count.  

3. I have 3 pets...a dog, a rabbit and a cat. 

4. I love flowers.

5. My favourite colour is pink. 

6. Before being diagnosed with cancer, I couldn't swallow tablets. Now i'm a pro, only because I have to take them every day!

7. My favourite film box set is Pirates Of The Caribbean.

8. I love Johnny Depp

9. I have an obsession with buying notebooks. 

10. I have 3 tattoos.

11. I hate Mango fruit. YUK

12. I have shaved all of my hair off...not just once but three times. 

13. I enjoy browsing charity shops for hours.

14. I love to travel. 

15. I have been on the Royal Albert Hall stage in front of a crowd of over 5,000 people. Breathtaking! 

16. My secondary school was an all girl's grammar school.... i'm a brain box!

17. I passed my driving test on my 3rd attempt...3rd time lucky!. 

18. My favourite meal is lasagne. 

19. I love Disney...who doesn't?

20. I have 4 Nan's and 3 Granddad's. Sadly a few of them have passed away but I still think about them a lot. 

21. I sing in a choir. Lalala

22. I am obsessed with the Christmas season.

23. I am not sporty in the slightest but love to go swimming.

24. I love watching old films, film's of the 80's are my favourite. 

25. I am so crap at styling my hair. 

26. I keep photo albums and order photo prints on a regular basis because I hate it that all our photos are stored online and In the future I hope to look through photo albums with my children and look back on memories like I do now with my family.

27. I have always wanted children and look forward to being a mother one day.

28.  I love pride and prejudice! The TV series..the book..the film..I just love it!

29. The weather can instantly change my mood. 

30. The sun shining on my face is the best feeling. 

31. My longest road trip was when I drove 510 miles from Plymouth to Scotland..8 and a half hours of driving. I did have a complete break down and will never do it again!

32. I have 2 DNA's..my finger print is my DNA and my blood is the same DNA as my brothers. 

33. I love drinking tea. 

34. Having cancer has completely changed my outlook on life. 

35. I have a bit of an obsession with buying lip products and never using them..balms, sticks, gloss, stains. 

36. I have no middle name. My mum used to tell me that my first name was too beautiful. 

37. I love going to the cinema. 

38. I love a bargain. 

39. My house has been in our family generation since it was built just after the second world war. 

40. My mum is one of my best friends.

41. I love painting my nails but am completely crap at doing it. 

42. My favourite band is Mumford and Sons.

43. I have been driving for 4 years. 

44.  I am such an emotional person. 

45. I am soo scared of the dark.

46. When I was younger I thought that sheep could kill you. 

47. I don't know song lyrics and find it hard to remember them so I always make them up. 

48. I am shit scared of big spiders. 

49. and wasps and bees. Even though I like Bee's a little because they give us delicious honey. 

50. I love honey...Manuka honey is my favourite. 

Pyjamas All Day.

Yes this is me ^ and yes I have been spending all day in my pyjamas for the past 2 days and no that's not by choice. After my long and winded venture to London, Scotland and Bristol all in one week. I fell ill with a really bad chest infection hence why I spent the following few days or so in my pyjamasy! The antibiotics I was on just made me feel really shitty and not myself so I didn't feel up for doing anything. 

What a a lazy cow...I know! I am only just starting to feel myself and having an infection has hit me hard. It sucks having a weakened immune system but hey ho I'm here so I'm not going to complain or go on about how side effects from having cancer completely suck. 

Usually I post an inspiring, motivating quote but I decided this week to just post that it's okay to stay in your pyjamas all day like I have done for the past few days or so and if you feel unwell or just don't want to get dressed for the day....go for it!

Happy Monday! When did you last have a 'pyjamas all day' day?

Hot Mustard Singing Group

Never in a million years did I think I would say this at the age of 22 but...'wait for it'.... I have joined a choir!! When I imagine choirs, I think of old people singing in churches or being part of a school choir. 

 I belong to a different kind of choir...we sing for Plymouth's Macmillan center, the Mustard Tree. We are a mixture of patients and staff of Derriford hospital and

our main aim is to help raise awareness of the charity, Macmillan cancer care and to create a small community.

It all started when a patient decided to set up the choir in September 2014, I think there were only a few members to begin with. 

I decided to join when I was asked by my friends mum, Mary who works as an information nurse at the Mustard tree. I went to one practice as I was curious what to expect and when I left that evening I couldn't wait until the next practice. I felt really touched by some of the people there and the spirit of everyone was so uplifting.

I have performed with the choir at two events, at a cancer summit conference and on a hospital ward. 

I am the youngest member of the group and I have been trying my best to encourage more young adult cancer patients to join. I am so tempted to contact Gareth Malone but it's a bit of a long shot. 

 I am no beyonce but It's something I am enjoying being a part of and I would never have thought of doing if I wasn't diagnosed so I think why not! 

My Month In Photos | March 2015

 On the 20th March we experienced a solar eclipse, where I live, in the United Kingdom, we experienced a 85% partial eclipse. At 8:40 in the morning, I set off on the Hoe to watch the eclipse take place, I was unfortunate to not get hold of the really cool eclipse glasses but managed to take a photo on my phone which turned out quite good if I must say so myself! I remember when I was younger in 1999 we experienced a total eclipse and it seemed much more dramatic compared to this year where it just came over a bit cloudy and slightly dark. It was definitely a disappointment but still fun to experience.  

 Collage of photos of our family day out...these are my favourite. Picnics, sun and fun!

 I have been travelling a lot lately with charity volunteering and meetings and last week I visited Bristol. I love the whole Bristol vibe, it has a really calm and cool vibe that no other city has. 

I noticed a lot of cool graffiti work on buildings so decided to create this montage of amazing artwork. 

My little brother has turned 19! OH DEAR I AM GETTING OLD!
WHAT happened to my little brother who used to dress up in my tutu and prance around!?. When there are occasions such as birthdays and family anniversary events I continuously think what the heck......where has the time gone! (so cliché) 

We celebrated by going out for a family meal at a really delicious Indian restaurant and even though I wasn't and am still not feeling very well we had a lovely evening. I am so blessed to have this chap in my life, he saved my life and I can never repay him for that. I couldn't help myself and spoiled him with a lot of gifts. He then spent a 'few' nights out on the beer with his friends and he's still recovering!! 

Happy Birthday K!

Easter Greetings

Volunteering For CLIC Sargent

Volunteering has become part of my life since my cancer diagnosis. I have been supported by so many amazing charities and now feel the need to give something back. I have volunteered for a number of charities and organisations, CLIC Sargent, Macmillan Cancer Support and RIO. It is an amazing experience and I have learned a lot of skills which I find so useful it also keeps me on my toes while I am recovering from my transplant and not able to return to full time work. 

There are so many volunteering vacancies out there it's amazing. Whether it's working in a shop, raising money or helping out at a local hospital, it all helps and is equally important. My main involvement with voluntary work  is with the cancer charity, CLIC Sargent. 

CLIC Sargent

CLIC Sargent charity has supported me and my family since the day of my diagnosis. You may have read previous posts about my volunteering opportunities with them. I have volunteered most with this charity as they have given me and my family so much support. I have held a lot of fundraisers for the charity and have managed to raise over £1000 so far. The enjoyment you feel when raising money for such a great charity is heart-warming. I have met so many amazing people and heard a number of inspiring stories. 

I started volunteering when I was chosen to take part in the young advisory group panel in March 2014, this is where patients who use the charity and staff who work for the charity come together and discuss future plans for the charity. CLIC Sargent are a charity who really appreciate patients' opinions and let us, as patients make decisions for the charity's future and share ideas of how we need to be supported. 

I have also had the great opportunity to be on an interviewing panel to interview new staff members of CLIC Sargent. It was such a great experience and I learned a lot from being on the other side and not being the scared candidate who was being interviewed!
  
Recently, I have been involved with promoting and providing feedback for CLIC Sargent's New Online community. It is similar to twitter but for cancer patients to discuss anything like treatment, side effects or share interests with each other. If you are a cancer patient and are interested in signing up, you can do so here. 

Have you or do you ever volunteer? If so where and how? 
I would love to hear about your experiences :) 

Why Do I Blog?

This is a question people often as me. 

I first started blogging just after having my transplant as I no energy to do a lot so to keep my mind active I started to write this blog. One of the main reasons was because I had a wide community of family and friends who were asking me what had happened and wanted me to explain to them in a lot more detail. I don't want to blow my own trumpet but I was receiving around 20 inbox messages a day...miss popular I know! I thought to myself, why not write a blog everyone can read and access themselves rather than repeating myself a lot of times. 
Never in a million years did I think my blog would be such a success and I didn't expect to enjoy writing it as much as I do! My unexpected enjoyment in blogging has driven me to continue writing about
living with side effects of cancer treatment and also about normal things I enjoy to do. My main aim is to raise awareness of cancer in young adults as before being a patient myself, I thought that the only people effected by the evil C were either really old or very young. 
I have learned so much about cancer and myself by creating this blog and continue to do my part and raise as much awareness as possible!
 I love to look back on previous posts to see how far I have come and reflect on how much has happened each year. 
Many people have said to me 'why don't you see if you can receive an earning to blog.' but personally I blog as a hobby and feel that If I was being paid to write or received an income from my blog then it wouldn't be the hobby that I love so much... It may change me from writing for a hobby and enjoying to write when I like it to feeling the need to post all the time...does that make sense?
Bloggers out there...what motivates you to write your blog?