So, I know that this month is Cancer Awareness month, so I thought I'd write a little blog post which feature some stories from people who have had cancer.
The first story is Mike's. For as long as I can remember, Mike had been having problems with his leg. Him and his wife bought a house in Spain, as well as having one here in the UK. Mike was having to frequently fly over here from Spain for appointments or operations on his leg; sometimes meaning he couldn't fly back to Spain. For this reason, as well as many others I presume, they sold their house in Spain and moved back to the UK to live here permanently. After all the troubles with his leg, in October 2012 Mike was diagnosed with cancer. He had to make frequent hospital visits, which often resulted in him having to stay there for a few days, as well as having many operations. Towards the end of February 2013, he had been in hospital for a while. On the 26th February 2013, Mike rung up his wife, which went to voicemail, asking her when her and the kids were next going to visit him. That was the last time she would ever hear his voice over the phone. Sadly, with his wife and kids around him, on Thursday 28th February, Mike died, his wife discovering his voicemail he left her a few days later. She had this voicemail put on to a disc so that whenever she wanted to hear his voice, she could.
The next story is my own. I'm not sure how many of you are aware of this, but moles (as in the ones you get on your skin, not the animal) can in some cases cause skin cancer. I had one particular mole on my leg. It wasn't necesserily big, but it did start to change colour from brown to black. On a regular check-up with my GP when I was 7, I was told I would have to go to my local hospital to have a second opinion on the matter. The nurse there told me I would have to have an operation on my leg to remove the mole. Nobody at the time told me it was cancer. I guess it was because I was 7 and they didn't want to scare me. I guess I was scared enough about having the operation. On the day of the operation, I remember I had been given some numbing cream to put on my leg and was about to go into the room. I remember saying to my mum that I couldn't do it, that I didn't want to have the operation. I remember her saying to me that I could either have the operation and never (hopefully) have to go to hospital again; or not have the operation and have to go into hospital all the time. So I decided to have the operation. I was awake for the whole thing. It didn't hurt. The last time I went into hospital was to have my stitches taken out.
The last story is about Hazel. She was the school receptionist at my primary school. She is probably one of the nicest people to ever walk this earth. Towards the end of July 2013, Hazel went on holiday to Ireland. She fell down one step and managed to break her leg. As it seemed too easy for her to break her leg by falling down one step, she had to keep going into hospital for blood tests. I guess she had to keep going in mostly because during and after she had had her cast taken off, she kept on getting pains in her leg. I guess she realised something was wrong yet everytime she went into hospital, she was always turned away after a scan of test, saying there was nothing wrong with her. This went on until October 2013. It was then on Wednesday 23rd October, she got told she had cancer. Not only that, but that she had 3 days left to live; something that could have been prevented if they'd have found the cancer sooner. Then in her sleep on Saturday 26th October, she died.
I was lucky that I could have a simple operation and be done with it. But sadly for Mike, Hazel and thousands of other people who have suffered from cancer, it's not the same story. So donate to any cancer charity today as every single penny really does help. If you woke up tomorrow and got told that someone you know had cancer, you would want to do anything and everything you could to help them. Don't sit there thinking 'no one I know has cancer. Why should I help?' You should help because you could help save a life and help save another family from heart break. Hearing you have cancer and/or hearing a loved one has cancer is one of the worst things a person can hear. So let's all stand up to cancer together to help save thousands of lives.
I want my children, grandchildren and future generations to be able to live in a world where cancer doesn't exist. That it's a thing from the past. So please donate or find a way to raise some money so that thousands of us out there are able to beat cancer.
If you have any queries about anything I've said in today's post, please don't hesitate to contact me on twitter - @teenagelifebeth
Love Beth xx
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