Last month my Mum underwent her 5th operation in her four year battle with bowel cancer. In 2012 she was diagnosed with bowel cancer and had successful surgery to remove part of her bowel. Unfortunately since then she has been plagued by secondary cancer, especially targeting her left lung. The recent operation at Harefield Hospital removed the lower lob of her left lung where the nodules have formed each time. It was a very long day for her. She was prepared by the staff for surgery in the morning being third on the list, but they didn't take her down to surgery until 2.00. We waited for news and for when Mum would be back on the HDU ward. Eventually at 10.30 she was transferred from the recovery unit to HDU, and then onto a normal ward a couple of days later. She was in hospital for just over a week before coming home last weekend. She is making good progress at home convalescing well. It's not easy for someone as active as she is to rest up, and she is a little frustrated at, what she perceives to be, the slow progress of the healing progress. She gets very tired at the moment, but hardly surprising after having had a large chuck of her left lung taken out so recently. She has seen the lung surgeon for a post op consultation, who was very pleased with Mum's progress, and how well she was looking so soon after surgery. Mum has to try and pace herself a bit better, but that aside it was all very good. Next week she has an appointment with the oncologist.
It's been a rough old road for her. The last few months have been particularly tough for her since the cancer, not only targeted her lung again, but also spread to her brain which resulted in a scary seizure at the end of November. She had CyberKnife treatment for that in January. Recently her speech has deteriorated again and she is awaiting the results of her recent scan to see what's happening. She is back on steroids to reduce the swelling and will see her oncologist in the week or so to see what happens next. For someone who is turning 80 this year she is fighting hard, and in my eyes genuinely a true bowel cancer warrior! She epitomises the brave, courageous spirit of so many cancer patients. It was hard fought victory in her battle with bowel cancer, and she is now gearing up for another possible encounter with this dreadful illness!
I published the Lives & Times book on November 27th, coincidentally the same day she had the seizure. It has raised over £1150 for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity so far. All proceeds I receive from sales of the book are donated to the charity. The book was completed over 18 months, and I met and photographed many famous, and some not so famous, people for the book. So many different and fascinating chapters to enjoy. To see how you can order the book, which is available as an eBook, paperback and hardback, click here.
So who can you expect to read about in the book...
- Sir Steve Redgrave CBE
- Katherine Grainger CBE
- Phil Parkes
- Mick Channon
- Jonathan Agnew
- Lorraine Kelly
- Christopher Biggins
- Matthew Wright
- Freya North
- Ben Richards
- Carrie Grant
- Gail Porter
- Alan Davies
- Shaun Keaveny
- Mike Read
- John Shuttleworth
- Tom Rosenathal
- Antonia Mariconda
- Status Quo
- The Stranglers
- The Alarm
- Clare Grogan
- Dodgy
- Mikes Hunt& Erica Nockalls
- Horace Panter
- My Mum!
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