this has been a funny week, feeling good and now been asked to do a t.v. interveiw, its a long story but i have a friend who was in legs and co, and recently on trinny and susanna and local t.v. my sis is also a bit of a local celeb,well my friend rang and said she had been asked to do interveiw about another girl she knew who was given 3 weeks to live and she had lent her a wedding dress to get married in, and she refused to comment, so they asked her opinion on jade, she said she couldn`t comment but she had a dear friend who was given the same news a year ago, and because of positive thinking treatment was still here . etc etc, (don`t want to bore you too much). anyway she phoned to see if i would be interested in doing an interveiw, i did think immediately NO, i really am a private person and didn`t think i could do it. but what if i can bring something important up. this is where you lot come in, HELP!!!!! can you give me things you`d like me to say, you know positive things, i personally would like everyone who is diagnosed to have blood tests and scans at least once a year cos i think i wouldn`t be terminal if they had caught it earlier. as i said it`s local t.v ( u.t.v. life) northern ireland and it`s on monday, so any good feedback would help. just for the record i really didn`t like jade doing her thing but the percentage of people getting smears has gone up by 50% (i think). so that can only do good right? so if i could help the breast cancer cause by even getting one person to catch it early then it`s worth it
thanks guys
liz xxxxxxxxxxx
FormerMember
hi Liz, firstly i`d like to say that im sorry that you are in this position(terminal diagnosis),but to wish you luck for your interview.Just telling your story as it is should be enough to make people sit up and realise that cancer can strike anyone whether young,old,famous or not.Anything that will help people become more aware of their bodies or to go for regular check ups is going to be worth it.I hope everything goes well.xx
hi liz , i think its great that you have been asked to do this , i also agree with lesley telling your own story should be enough . also i think you are right about scans etc also i think the age of screening should be lowered down from 50 most of the women i have met with breast cancer are around my age 46 [45 when diagnosied ] it could save lifes hope you enjoy your tv debut take care lots of love n hugs theresa xx
[fellow terminal patient]:I agree that your own story is valuable and important. My only thought about the stats that are being bandied about (rise in women seeking smear tests) is that they are not really the point. As I understand it, out of fear/ignorance/bad previous experience, Jade Goody ignored repeated letters telling her she needed follow-up treatment rather than tests. Perhaps I'm being unfair, but she does seem to have made it clear that it was the treatment that she feared.
Everyone on here knows how vicious and vile the treatment can be; however, we grit our teeth and do it. I've lost my hair, toenails, 3 stones, my taste buds, my teeth are on the way out and I sleep 15 hours a day - but I do it! And that's because I want to stay alive as long as I can and that means facing facts.
as the disease. I meet people very often who have had the treatment and are walking about, getting on with their lives.
I have always gone for my screening mammographies, and I have been clear, but I still got bowel cancer. I was diagnosed in time and treated and I'm fine now. I didn't even lose my hair, Not everyone is that lucky, but nearly everyone who loses their hair in treatment has it grow back as beautiful as ever. I think that the screening should be available to younger women. say 40+ then reducing to 25 like smear tests.
Of course it isn't all a barrel of laughs, but trying to stay cheerful can make it a far less awful experience.
Jade is telling her story from her experience. It doesn't have to be that bad, especially if women are breast aware and check when they think there may be a problem. I have seen my GP about 3 times in my life when I felt all was not well, and been reassured. Then when I had cancer, the first indication came from the Blood Donor centre when my haemoglobin was too low. There was a story in the Blood Donor magazine about a similar case and so I went for diagnosis.
Telling people about it is good practice, but we should be reassuring about the numbers of people who recover well if they are diagnosed in time. In addition, my treatment wasn't as bad as I expected . The nausea was mostly fairly mild and transitory. Only a few minutes at a time. I didn't have Radiotherapy, but I understand it isn't as bad as chemo.
I think you could say that there is a lot of support via What Now, because it gives access to Macmillan and people are usually sent in helpful directions. The ethos about expertise in the NHS takes pride of place and other areas are strictly for side effects and not intended for direct therapeutic effect. There are many local groups for every kind of Cancer, and people can get help from local people with experience of local practitioners in the NHS and the private sector.
Hospices aren't just for dying in. They can provide assessment, pain management and helpful therapies. There is a lot of pain management expertise so anyone referred to them should not fear the worst.
