Another 365er completes her 365challenge ...

On Sunday, January 23rd 2011, 3 days ahead of her target finish date of January 26th, Australia Day, another of our 365ers has completed her 365challenge successfully.

Heather Kelly, an Aussie living here in Chester, England, contacted me just over a year ago to find out how she could take on a 365challenge to support Cancer Research UK. We kicked around a few ideas, and then Heather came back to me with her final plan. And I was stunned at its ambition!

She wanted to create something that helped connect her with her homeland, so … quite simply … she decided she was going to walk from her hometown of Geelong, just outside Melbourne on the south coast to Australia’s northern-most point at Cape York in Queensland … just 3000 miles along the east coast of this enormous country! That’s an average of 8 MILES A DAY! She told me she loved to walk and usually walked at least 4 miles most days anyway, but this was going to need a bit more of an effort on her part.

And you know what? She’s ploughed through the miles, in all weathers, and on Sunday, I was honoured to be asked to join her and a few friends for her final few miles. We successfully negotiated the river, canal and cycleways around Chester on a mild January afternoon to cross that incredible finish line … 3000 miles walked in ONE YEAR, raising, so far, £1130 for the wonderful work of Cancer Research UK (you can add to that total if you want to … click through here to her JustGiving page to donate)

We then adjourned to The Ship Inn in Handbridge in Chester for a celebratory tipple to acknowledge Heather’s wonderful effort.

Congratulations, Heather, that is an amazing achievement and you’ve done the 365challenge proud. Thanks for being willing to take it on and now … put your feet up for a few days and have a well-earned rest … before you set your sights once more on this year’s SHINE night marathon walk for CRUK in Manchester May 1st! What a trooper 

Getting back to the everyday ...

It really is quite hard to get my head around what has happened this year sometimes. It was the middle of February when Donna and I noticed a lump on the side of my neck. It wasn't large, it just wasn't something that should have been there. The next day, I saw my GP, Andrew, who poked and prodded, and muttered that he couldn't say what it was but given my history, we'd better get it checked out (I think he knew, actually, but he was probably right not to expand on his suspicions at that point).

A week later, I saw the ENT consultant, who arranged a biopsy and this confirmed that I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma (Stage 1a, very early in it's development, thankfully), and I was then bounced to the oncology consultant, Dr Tueger, who then took charge. Well, he'd probably sayhe did, but his specialist nurses did, really (*GRINS*), and just over a month after investigations had begun, I started ABVD chemotherapy on March 31st.

I'd kept working up to that point, trying to tie things up with cases and clear my desk for what I originally told people would be "a month off while I reviewed how I coped with chemo" (oh, I am such an optimist, did you know that?). Though I had good weeks when I still felt well over the three month course of chemo (and even kept running on the good days), the chemo regularly wiped me out for 7 or 8 days at a time, so returning to work justdidn't come into the picture at all.

It was hugely frustrating, as anyone who knows me will know that I don't like "not doing". I always seem to have something I'm working on or planning - I'm not on-the-go all the time, and I can veg on the couch with the best of them, but I always have some project or other bubbling under. And during this period, it was really difficult to motivate myself for days on end to do very much at all (other than watch the World Cup, which, conveniently filled the latter part of my treatment cycle).

And when the chemo ended, on June 16th, that still wasn't it, because it took about another 2 - 3 weeks for the main effects to wear off. Then, on July 7th, I met with Dr Tueger to be told that I was in complete remission. So, in just under five months, I went from finding a lump on my neck to the bleakness of a second cancer diagnosis, through the trials and tribulations of the treatment, to being in complete remission!

Head-spinning, really, don't you think? I mean, just how great is modern medicine, and how brilliant a service is the NHS when you stop and think about it? I have to stop and pinch myself sometimes as I try to make sense of what's happened over these past few months. The relief we (Mrs 365er and I) feel is huge, obviously. While I am still having radiotherapy (another 2 weeks of this needed, just to be sure, you know), the reality is that the cancer is gone, history, just another story to tell - how amazing is that!

Now, it's time to get my life back on track. I started back to work again in the middle of July (almost three months after I'd optimistically expected i would!), but I am determined to move a little slower than maybe I have in the past; taking things easier and saying "no" to things more often that I have done in the past. I know the work will come in, so I don't really need to panic, the bank balance will grow again in time, and I'm sure that before too long, I'll be back in the swing of things on that front. Soon, it'll be the old routine again, and I have to say, I'm kind of looking forward to that.

As for my 2nd 365challenge, well, having over four months "out", with very limited running has really put paid to me completing the challenge of running 36.2 marathon distances in a year, but I haven't completely given up on it. I have been trying to get back to running - it's been VERY hard this last couple of weeks, maybe the radiotherapy has something to do with that! - but as I build up again over the coming weeks, I plan to continue with my effort and just keep going until I've hit my target miles. It may take me 18 months instead of 12, but I will complete it.

And while I'm doing that, I'll continue to support any 365ers who come on board to join me in raising as much as we can for the fantastic work of Cancer Research UK. I know that if they were not out there funding research and developments in cancer care, these last few months might have been very different for me, so if I can raise more money that ultimately means other people's experiences of cancer prove as positive as my own, then that's what I'll keep doing. Care to join me anyone? Anytime ...? 

Another breathe-holding moment ...

Wednesday morning (July 7th) was PET Scan results morning for me and Donna (Mrs 365er). It was also, poignantly, the 2nd anniversary of losing my big sis and the inspiration for the 365challenge, Brenda, to breast cancer.

Having completed my chemo on June 16th, after a couple of false starts, I had my (almost) full body PET scan (a highly detailed exploration of my innards) on June 30th at the Clatterbridge Oncology Unit. Quite a lengthy process, involving injection of radioactive tracers (nice), then about 40 minutes in the scanner as it moved up and down my body, taking the pictures that would tell us if the chemo had worked and I was clear of cancer again!

As is always the way, once the scan was done, there was another wait until I could meet with Dr Tueger, my oncologist, and get the results ... and that wait came to an end this morning ...

There we sat, anxiously, as he asked a number of symptom-related questions (which I answered all in the negative, which was good) and then he gave me a quick physical before he got round to remembering why we were there again, and uttered the glorious words ... "there was no sign of the lymphoma in your PET scan; you are in COMPLETE REMISSION, the lymphoma is completely gone!!"

Big release of breathe again, hand squeezing with Donna (the hugs came later!), as the relief swept over us both. This is what we came to hear, and it was wonderful ... Colin 2 - Cancer 0, eh?

But there was a "but ..."

Dr Teuger went on to say that the scan showed a slightly raised uptake of the sugars they inject in the PET scan around the prostate, but he reassured us that it was very slight and the radiologist had suggested that he has seen this before and it wasn't anything significant to worry about ... but, to be sure, to be sure, he was going to have me see the Urologist for an opinion. He had already asked me a number of questions about my "waterworks" and as these have been completely normal all along, he seemed happy enough that all is well in the world, so the urology check-up is just about crossing the Ts, really (or should that read "crossing the Ps"). It did take a little of the shine off the main news, but as we left, we just kept reminding ourselves of those words "complete remission" ... they sound damn good to me!

Donna and I want to say a truly heartfelt thank you to all of you out there who have provided such great support to us both through these last few months - knowing you're all out there routing for us has been a great boost, so thank you again. But keep it coming too, 'cos it's great to know you're behind us still.

HAIR UPDATE

I thought I'd better bring you up-to-date on the hair situation, as so many of you have "invested" in it. I'm now three weeks post-chemo, and I have to say that the hair thinned dramatically in the days after it all ended. I had what I call a chemo hairstyle - thin patches on the side of my head, etc., so I decided to have it all taken off. But my hairdresser wouldn't do it for me - she insisted on only cropping it short, and to tell you the truth, it didn't look too bad. Certainly very thin on top, very much like my Dad now, but I am told it WILL grow back. Here's a photo as evidence ...

So, who got it right in the Hair Stakes betting? Well, it's not actually gone, but it did try very hard to go, so I reckon it's sort of somewhere between the "Lose it After Session 6" voters, Katie Balling and John & Isabel McCormick, and the "Not at All" crew, made up of Chris Alderton, Dave Dean, Nancy Scott, Angela Brennan, Simon Painter, Melanie Peake, Susan Jones, Janette Reilly and all at Stanley Staff, Frances Vaughan, Jennifer Liston-Smith, Fiona Pender and, last but never least, Huw Williams (such optimists, all of 'em!).

Thanks to everyone for the support you've given me on this. It was a lot of fun and really did help take the sting out of the experience!

That's it for now, but don't forget, if you find a lump ... please have it checked out: you know it makes sense!

Cheers

Colin

Chemotherapy: DONE!

On Wednesday, June 16th, I completed the mini-marathon that is Chemotherapy treatment, with my 6th and final session of ABVD at the Countess of Chester Oncology Suite. I have to say a huge thank you to all of the girls over there - I'm sure they'll appreciate the term (honest, I KNOW they will) - for their wonderful care and support across these past three months of treatment. Their sense of humour coupled with a truly practical approach to the business of cancer made a massive difference to me in how I came through this - and I hope I gave them a few laughs along the way too :D.

Also on Wednesday, I had a meeting with my oncologist, Dr Tueger, who, after a physical examination, declared that he could find no trace of any lumps, adding "we're all good here!" 

Gulp! 

Okay, so I know there is still a PET scan needed to confirm this, and a course of radiotherapy to "mop up any lingering nasties", but it looks like we're close to being able to declare a winner in this battle - and it ain't gonna be Hodgkin's lymphoma. Hah, take THAT!

There is a palpable feeling of relief in our house, as you might imagine, though coupled with a lingering "it's still not finally confirmed" caution, but it really is looking very good from where I'm sitting :D

Flame of Hope Awards

And what a way to celebrate finishing chemotherapy! On Friday June 18th, Mrs 365er and I hopped on a train down to "that there London" to the Russell Hotel for the Cancer Research UK "Flame of Hope" Awards. These are nominated for by the CRUK staff and acknowledge the efforts of the many amazing fund-raisers out there doing their thing to support this wonderful charity (thank you, David, for thinking I deserved to be in the mix). 


And wouldn't you know it, your very own 365challenge has only gone and won a Special Commendation in the "Fundraising through Sport" category (!), so I am looking forward to having  the pleasure of collecting my award from none other than the Chairman of CRUK, David Newbigging, OBE. 

Have to say that I'm just a bit pleased at this - and I hope it helps push the 365challenge forward in the eyes of CRUK as I continue to try to negotiate a higher profile for it in their fundraising activities in general.

Now then, when do we get to go to the palace ... :)

"call to arms" for Cancer Research UK and the 365challenge

I've been in discussions recently with a small but hopefully growing gym group who are looking at adopting the 365challenge for Cancer Research UK (CRUK), and if that happens, then there is a real possibility that the 365challenge could take off quite significantly, which has been my goal all along, as this could see a huge boost in funds coming in to support the charity. 


In discussions with the MD of the company (details of who they might be later, as things get finalised ... be patient *GRINS*), he asked me if I'd be able to make a video to explain the 365challenge concept to his staff and potential 365ers - a sort of "call to arms" to people out there to take it on and do something amazing for Cancer Research UK. 


"Of course", I said ... and then began to wonder how to go about it! I borrowed a friend's video camera, but couldn't quite get the look and sound I wanted, so thought I'd mucked it up.  However, then I thought I should have a look at the capabilities of my new MacBook Pro, given that Apple are said to be the tool of the creatives of this world. And what do you know ... this beautiful machine had most of what I needed as part of the free software already installed.  


I used the Photo Booth video facility to make the recording, using a programme I'd downloaded for free, called Prompt, to create a tele-prompter into which I pasted my "script", so that I could read it off screen as I went along. It worked pretty well, but I do think I'll need a little more practice before I can expect calls to take over from my local newsreaders :) 


I then posted the resulting video to iPhoto, opened iMovie and imported the basic video into this, where, by trial and error, I learned a little about the process of editing, to create the 7 minute video that I've posted below.  


I'm planning several more, including a shorter, bullet-point 2 minute version, but if you have a moment, have a look and let me know what you think of my efforts. Anything you'd change or have i got it just about right? All comments welcome.