I have always considered myself to be a lucky person, even to this very day. However a lot of people that I have met since my illness have considered me to be very unlucky, as I got my disease at an age that was considered young. I have also had numerous and regular complications, meaning that I have been unable to return to work, or lead a normal life.
On a TV programme last night, I saw a man that had fallen from ten floors of scaffolding, and nearly died. He had broken numerous bones, but more seriously had severe brain injuries. He has a wife and two young children, and his life will never be the same again. The reporter asked him if he felt he was lucky or unlucky. I thought he was unlucky, to have fallen in the first place, but he answered lucky.He was still alive to see his children grow up, although his life is changed forever.
If I was unlucky to get my illness in the first place, it has certainly changed my life forever, but I have been very lucky with the things that have happened to me since then. Firstly, they found me a 100% match for my stem cell transplant. I survived all the treatment and the transplant. But I have found my way into another world, working with people affected by cancer. I went to Macmillan Cancer Support for help, and my life found a new purpose.
This path has led me to working with such wonderful people, both patients and professionals. To be able to use my experience and knowledge to improve peoples lives is incredible. To actually be able to see the difference you make is a feeling that cannot be described.It certainly has been a very long road, but now, into my fifth year, I feel that I have a real value in my work. I now realise that my personal experience is invaluable, for people that are starting out on their own journey.
I really loved the work that I was doing before I got ill, and I thought that I was fully satisfied. I really thought that I was lucky to be doing something I enjoyed, at the age of 50.It seems I didn’t really appreciate the meaning of job satisfaction!
Although I am not in the position to earn money, I consider my self so privileged to be able to use my personal experience to help in some way.So was I lucky when I got ill? No, but I was lucky with what happened because of it. Some people say that it is because I work in the way I do, that some of those things happened. I say, I know a lot of people who work like me, and those things have never happened to them.
One area that I think I am really lucky, is to be alive during the invention of the internet. In some respects that certainly is a life changer in a different way!
Are we really lucky with what happens in our lives? Do we create our lives, or do things just happen for a reason? Is there a part of your life that is down to luck, or is it hard work and good planning?
Have you had some good luck that you would like to share, particularly if you have won the lottery!!!
