Faith and Cancer

Two days after Christmas a friend of mine died. He too had cancer and was diagnosed a few months before I was. During chemotherapy we messaged each other a few times comparing experiences and lack of hair! He was also a musician (he played the trumpet, of was it flugal horn?) and a Christian. When I heard the news about his death yesterday I was not prepared for the range of emotion that came over me. It suddenly brought everything back - all those feelings of sadness when I was first diagnosed. I kept thinking 'That could be me. That could be me'. We had such a happy Christmas, made all the sweeter that I was there to share in it. But my friend's Christmas was very different. Our lives and journeys were similar and intersected on a variety of levels, yet he is gone and I am still here. I guess I have a bit of survivor's guilt. I just need to accept that I will never understand all of God's plan for our lives. He gives and he takes away, yet my heart will c

Since my last Chemotherapy treatment in October I have had the good news that I am now in remission. I have undergone my first 'maintenance' treatment which went very well and I am now on the road to recovery, looking to start back at work again near the end of January on a phased return. My hair has been growing back and yesterday I had my first haircut since April! The hair on the top of my head was already thinning before my diagnosis and it grows much slower than the rest so I needed the sides and the back to be trimmed as it was starting to look a bit funny being longer than the top. As I recover it's the small things, like having a haircut, that are pretty big landmarks along the journey. My schedule has been filling up too. I ran the end of term Christmas disco at school last week and organised and took part in the Wisbech Churches Together 'Walking Nativity' on Sunday. However, I have learned that building up ones strength and stamina after a major il