Awareness months

Arthritis makes life very difficult, I'm never without pain and I can't walk very far nowadays.

It's not just me that arthritis affects, but a lot of other people too. It comes in different guises. Osteoarthritis, which is my bugbear, is only one form of this crippling disease. It can affect children too, in the form of juvenile arthritis. A boy in my daughter's class at school was suffering with juvenile arthritis. As an adult I find the constant pain and associated problems, such as limited mobility and fatigue difficult to deal with, I don't know how a child deals with it day to day, children should be running about playing and having fun.

In case you are wondering I am wrote this in National Arthritis Week. October was also Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and as I unfortunately know quite a bit about breast cancer - having been diagnosed in 2005 - I thought I would also say a bit about that too.

Yes I'm unlucky, breast cancer and severe arthritis, but then that's life, and we all have problems. My breast cancer was discovered, thankfully, at an early stage, after I had a routine mammogram. I had not found a lump so I was not expecting to be called back and had a nasty shock. I had a wide local excision (basically the tumour is removed without loosing the breast) followed by chemotherapy, radiotherapy and Herceptin. My treatment took two years as I had Herceptin by intravenous therapy for twelve months after my tumour was examined and found to be HER2 positive (a more aggressive form) which came as a shock. This was at the time women all over the country were fighting for approval by NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) for the drug to be used. Luckily for me and countless others, it was approved for everyone on the day I had confirmation I could have the treatment from my primary care trust.

My chemotherapy treatment was aggressive to fight the fast-growing cancer I had (three of the thirteen of my lymph nodes which were removed showed cancer), and three weeks after my first chemotherapy session my hair fell out. My wig was supplied by the NHS but I wasn't keen on wearing it and more often than not I would be sporting a colourful scarf to match my outfit. Wigs can be so itchy!

But here I am, ten years later, cancer free, and earlier this year I was discharged from hospital having beaten the odds. I'm very lucky, and I know I am, having known many brave ladies who didn't make it.

I would urge anyone who finds a lump, has discharge from their nipple, orange peel skin over the breast, or anything unusual, to go to the doctor. It may be nothing and hopefully it will be, nothing, but the earlier you go the better your chances.

Another awareness this month, one very close to my heart, is Babyloss Awareness Week. It's a very emotive subject which is very difficult to talk about, extremely hard to bear, and causes so much pain. I lost my first baby when I was 12 weeks into my pregnancy, my second very early in the pregnancy, and then had a threatened miscarriage with my son at 12 weeks, so my pregnancy was marred by worry not knowing if I would be able to carry my baby to term. Thankfully I did, he's now 38!

My children have sadly gone through the terrible pain of loosing babies themselves, it's heartbreaking knowing the anguish they go through, the sense of loss is like nothing else. I just wish there was something I could do to take away the pain, something to help.

Whether it be arthritis, breast cancer, or baby loss, we all know someone who is suffering or fighting. Whatever problems or illnesses people have, whatever awareness week or month it happens to be, if somebody needs help, has a need to talk, or maybe a shoulder to cry on, it would be good if we were all aware of other people and their needs, and not just our own.

With all the troubles in the world today, war, terrorism, and racial tension, to name but a few, wouldn't it be nice if we could all be friends, whatever our culture, religion, or nationality. After all we are all people with feelings, fears, needs and anxieties, and we need to remember this.

I shall now step off my soap box.

My back's aching from standing on it for too long and I need a cup of tea!