This is Kent --Tina Morrissey writes our regular Down To Earth column. But the mum-of-two is also battling bowel cancer. Here she shares her diary:
FOR those of you who read my Down to Earth articles, I have a confession to make.
It is not just the abject weather conditions that is preventing me doing as I would wish in my own patch. I am currently undergoing treatment for the second time for bowel cancer. This time for a metastases, sometimes called a secondary, in my liver.
As this is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month I, along with the good people at the Times, am hoping to support this campaign by telling you all about my journey so far with this increasingly common form of cancer.
Bowel or colorectal cancer is currently the second biggest cause of cancer deaths in the UK. Yet it is one of the most curable cancers if caught early enough.
The incidences of this cancer are rising all the time, as a side-effect of our modern lifestyles. Worse still, it is no longer confined to the older generation, as the change in lifestyle generally, and our individual choices, impact on people of a younger age.
So, the awareness campaign to educate on symptoms is as vital now as the breast awareness ones have been to encourage early detection of breast cancers, and the improvement thereafter of survival rates.
During this series I will talk about every aspect of my journey to date, from initial symptoms and diagnosis, the tests and procedures leading to my surgery, and the rather brutal post-surgery infection I contracted, to living with a stoma and the return after three years of the cancer.
Outside of the medical facts, I will also share the emotional side and the affect having cancer has had on me, my family and friends.
As the statistics unfortunately show, this is an issue that affects many, if not most, of us. So many of my friends and acquaintances locally are either fellow patients, survivors or the family of a cancer patient.
This does not seem to be the situation among the friends and family we left behind in north London. So I asked if east Kent was a cancer hotspot. I was assured this was not the case, and that we meet the national average of one in three of the population having some form of cancer during their lifetime. Which sadly gives this series of articles a large pool of interested readers.
While this is my personal experience and I am not an expert of any nature, I hope that by taking you through my journey I will ease some fears, answer some questions and, at times, make you laugh. And yes, there are times when "tumour humour", as I call it, can cheer. Above all, though, I want to encourage everyone to seek medical support at the earliest onset of symptoms for this eminently curable form of cancer.
Lastly, why are these articles called "Fire ants in my fingers"? Well, that will become clear later on, when I talk about my current chemotherapy treatment. You will just have to wait for that one.
For more information on bowel cancer there is an organisation called Bowel Cancer UK and their website is a great source of information and support, at: www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk
For information on all forms of cancer, treatment and living with cancer I can wholeheartedly recommend Macmillian Cancer Support at www.macmillan. org.uk Reported by This is 7 hours ago.