Hi, I posted this in the New to to the Community forum, but as someone supporting someone with cancer, perhaps it's better placed here.
Hi,
I'm not really sure what I'm hoping to achieve by this but here I am.
I'm not a cancer patient, but have in a lot of ways been living with cancer for the last 28 years.
My younger sister was diagnosed with wild type GIST as a 10 year old (I was 12), she had 75% of her stomach removed and was in remission for 5 years. She got secondaries in her liver when she was 15. After 9 years on Imatnib (Glivec) she became immune and was put on Sunitnib (Sutent) but sadly it was too late and the cancer had spread. We lost her 6 months later at the age of 24. I was in labour when she died, she really wanted a nephew and she got one, makes me sad every day that she never got to meet him.
In 2018, my Mum was diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer in her right breast. She had the tumour resected, they removed lymph nodes under the arm as a precaution and she underwent chemo and radiation also.
Last year was 5 years and she was told she was all clear, yet in the Summer she developed a cough which wouldn't go away but she had a clear Xray in August. Despite various courses of antibiotics, even though there was no obvious infection, and a few round of steriods, the cough wasn't shifting. At Christmas her Asthma nurse referred her for an urgent Xray, which showed something resembling a partially collapsed lung. My Dad then insisted on a CT - which the GP reluctantly agreed to (without contrast) - and as a result a few weeks later it was determined she had at least one tumour in her right lung. Last week she was diagnosed with incurable cancer, with at least two tumours in her lung, as well as lymph nodes, cancer in the lymph nodes in her neck, and under her left arm, in the tissue of her left breast and in multiple bone locations. Today it was confirmed to be secondary, which we had obviously suspected.
Now she's been referred to the breast cancer team, they are discussing treatment options on Wednesday morning.
As I said, I don't know what I was hoping to get out of this, other than maybe just to write it all out. Like many people here my poor Mum has been through so much, she battled cancer by proxy for 14 years with my sister, lost her child and now she's battling it herself for the second time. It just feels so unfair, and I'm so scared for her, and my Dad, who also doesn't deserve to watch another one of his girls got through this again.
If you've read this far, then thanks. Sending love and luck to all of those battling this heartless disease, whether that's the brave patients or their loved ones.
