There Must Always Be Hope!

I was always aware that this year was going to be a big one for me and my family, and I am seeing so many important things I never thought I would live to see, and none more so than my youngest son getting married this weekend. Since my cancer diagnosis and poor prognosis in 2007, living to see 2008 was my ambition, but since then I have two grandchildren, my son has qualified as a chartered accountant and is now getting married and my wife has a big birthday later in the year.  But if I think back to the many dark days I have had in the last few years, I could never have thought that I would be seeing these events.

But hope is something I never lost at any stage, it is something I have always had even when I was a young lad, and has helped guide me through life’s choppy waters. During my early years, there were many what I considered to be life changing moments, but there was only really one, which was meeting my wife!There must always be hope 1 I know now that all the others were just twists and turns in a normal life that happen to most of us at some stage. I thought I was set for a relatively routine life with children, grandchildren and pension schemes, until cancer reared its ugly head. Now that really is life changing!! Despite all the stuff I was hearing, I really did believe that I could get back to living a normal life and working as I did before, logic never came into my thinking really. Then after surviving such aggressive treatment I was continually sick, with particularly my lungs and liver at risk of failure. Even at this stage I never lost hope.

After 7 years of pretty much constant treatment for an incurable disease and the after effects of it, I am now only on medication to control things. Naturally there are still issues to deal with, but minor in comparison to previous experiences. Although I am very much a different person now, this is certainly better than I could have hoped for. I have lost a lot in this period, including much of my memory, and I certainly struggle to recall parts of my life before cancer. Within the confines of a family man, I was carefree, loving my work with enough money not to have to worry too much about my future. But life has shown me what really is important, and our constant chase for money and possessions definitely isn’t.

When starting my cancer support journey I had always hoped that people would take me seriously, despite having no real plan. Although things seem to have taken their time, my work has gone much better than I could ever imagine. I give as much to this role as I can, but I have received so much in return, in terms of satisfaction from helping people. So at this stage I can say I am grateful for being here and what positive things life has given me. To see my children fulfil their ambitions and dreams, and see my grandchildren start to do the same is an incredible feeling for me.

I realise that hope is what has driven me to be the person I am, and according to my medical people my positivity has helped me through the bad times.There must always be hope But given the importance of it, is hope something that everyone has, are you born with it, or just acquire it as you live your life? Most people I have met do have it, but I have also met many that lost it too. What I do enjoy about my work is that my own case can give hope to others, and I am constantly contacted from around the world by people with a similar diagnosis to my own, who can see the life I am able to lead now. Nowhere was that more poignant than at my own hospital where I was giving a presentation about Stem Cell Transplants. In the audience was a man who had just been diagnosed with my disease and had come to meet me and find out more.

For myself  I no longer have any great expectations, and am happy to be able to play my part as a husband, father, grandfather and friend for as long as nature will allow. I hope to continue with my work, but not to the same intensity that I have, and I would like something unrelated to cancer to fill the gap where treatment was. But I am used to life throwing ‘curved balls’ so I’m sure there will be something unexpected turn up soon! The reality is that I will always be on alert because of my disease and I will be frequently tested at the hospital so there is no escape mentally. I suppose my one main hope is that my experience has not been wasted, and being able to share with others around the world has meant that many patients and professionals are learning from it, to hopefully improve things for people following me. I have seen massive steps in progress for treatment of my disease, despite it being a rare cancer, and although slower than I would like I can see progress in the cancer support sector too.

As I have talked about above, hope has been absolutely key to helping me throughout my life and continues to today. How important has that emotion been for you? Please feel free to share your views and experiences below.

 

 

7 Comments

  1. Hello Chris, congratulations on your son’s marriage, I hope he and his wife will be very happy. It’s wonderful that it’s been possible for you to become a father-in-law and a grandfather, may you have many more years as both! xx

    • Hi Deb, thanks so much for the good wishes! It has indeed been a wonderful but incredibly emotional time, which I know you will understand. There were four generations of my family there on Saturday, and I was a very proud man, as my eldest son did his best man speech. Just pleased to be there Deb, I am grateful for everything. My best to you as always xx

  2. Hi Chris! Your blog is full of the joy of living and wonderful and uplifting to read! Congratulations on celebrating the love of your family. You so eloquently describe what is important in life. I often feel that cancer has been a blessing in the respect of valuing and appreciating what we have, rather than what we may have previously felt important. When we are blessed to be able to offer others support, we also gain invaluable insights…
    I miss working in care considerably, but realize the need to care for myself which is quiet a challenge in itself!
    Sometime cancer seem to be about so much, I must remember to keep life simple and to believe and hope. Being without work, moving and most recently loosing my mother have set me back a few paces but I must thank you for reminding me to hold onto hope and your blog has lifted my spirits, thank you Chris.
    I look forward to reading what you decide to do with your extra time.
    Wishing you a great and joyous week.
    Tricia

    • Thanks so much for your lovely comments Tricia. Firstly, so sorry to hear the news re your mum, life can certainly be tough at times.
      Yes, I have learned a lot from cancer too, I do my best to keep my life as simple as I can and certainly appreciate the things I have. This wedding was another occasion for reflection, and I remember thinking that I would never see my boys grow up and have their own families.
      Incredibly I am seeing that and have been blessed with two fabulous grandchildren. On many occasions things looked so bad for me health wise, yet I am still here. I wanted to communicate that message really, that it is possible there may be some light. A joyous week to you too Tricia

  3. Thank you Chris for your latest link, I wish that I could have met you when I first started my cancer 5 years ago, the help you have given me over the last 12 months since I have had my laptop have been a massive help to me. I think the message from you is never give up help. Life is a school looking back over the years I found that awful things that are given to us teach us a lot, so sometimes the bad days are not so bad after all. God Bless you and your family Chris, hope you have had a wonderful week end with your wedding. Georgine xx

    • Thx so much Georgine, your comments mean a lot! You are so right with all the points you make, I love “Life is a school.” It so is!! I try to share as much of my experience as I can and hopefully help as many as I can. Unfortunately there are new people everyday so I hope they can find the support they need. Wedding was very emotional for us as you can imagine. Have a fab week Georgine, Chris xx

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