Teens Unite Guest Blogger
Hi Guys! Hope you're well!
Teens Unite a teenage cancer charity very close to heart, are launching a brand new blog website, and I am very excited to announce I will be their guest blogger. The website is mainly aimed at young people who are currently on or have finished treatment, and I hope to give them a positive mindset that things do get better after cancer by sharing my story. In today's post I will be rewinding back to the beginning to life before cancer and to where I am today. So here we go........
Life before Cancer? I was an ordinary 12 year old, loving my new secondary school, making new friends and getting through the awkward stages of having weird hairstyles and sense of fashion! I started to feel unwell a day before my school trip to France in March 2010 , where I was experiencing headaches and tiredness. I put this down to being excited for my school trip, unfortunately my symptoms did get worse throughout the trip where my headaches and tiredness were permanent and did not get better with any drugs. I literally remember having to drag myself out of bed everyday of the trip and forcing myself to enjoy Disneyland like all my friends but my body did not agree to this. I felt very weak, I barely ate anything during the trip as I felt sick. I somehow managed to get through the trip, mum immediately noticed I was not right as soon as I got in the car when she collected me from school that evening. I straight away went to bed and spent most of that weekend throwing up, feeling weak even to go downstairs, I would get up in the middle of the night sweating so much my Pyjama t-shirt would be soaked.
My diagnosis story is very long, but if you are interested in the full story check out my blog post about it http://kirushniscancerstory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/my-first-cancer-battle-part-one.html. Too cut it short, I had several trips to the GP, A&E, countless amount of antibiotics and ended up being blue lighted to London to the intensive care unit. My parents were told I was not going to make it, as my organs started failing one by one and doctors were puzzled to come to why any of this was occurring. After four weeks of being in intensive care unit I was eventually diagnosed with Anaplastic large cell Lymphoma, a rare type of non hodgkin lymphoma. As you can all imagine it was a complete shock to me and my family, I cannot express in words how scared I was but all I knew was I had to keep strong. I had a very long road ahead of me with recovering from intensive care with my breathing and learning how to walk again to my actual cancer treatment.
My treatment included six months of intense chemotherapy, a very awful six months where I faced side effects of sickness, losing my long thick black hair and many other physical and emotional effects. I eventually learnt how to walk again, finished treatment and I got the all clear in October 2010! Unfortunately six months later, I started experiencing severe stomach pains, and it was confirmed my cancer had returned. Being told you have this awful disease again is a feeling I cannot explain, it was mix of being scared, angry and disappointed. Was I going to let it get the better of me? Hell no! This time my treatment included three months of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. I was very lucky to have my brother as a 100% donor match as only 1 in 4 siblings are a match, meaning the stress of having find a donor during treatment was eliminated.
I am not going to bore you with all the side effects etc, but all I can say was my cancer journey was tough, tougher than I imagined it to be both emotionally and physically.Transplant took every little energy and I cannot emphasise how hard my road to recovery was. Every day I took it in my own stride, slowly but surely each day I was getting stronger and better. I am very fortunate to be here today throughout all the odds, I am now six years post transplant and living my life to the fullest. I am currently studying to be an Optician, and I am loving every moment of uni so far. Moving away was a massive step for me, but I am very fortunate to have made some great friends and to be living with the most amazing flat mates. Now that I have returned back into education since my break , I have so much will power and determination to do well and succeed in something I am so passionate about. I am so excited for what the future holds for me and cannot wait to be reach my goal one day.
Of course I would not be here today without all the amazing doctors, nurses, medical staff and most importantly the support from my family and friends. However what most people do not realise is it's not easy getting your life back on track after cancer, if you think about it, the majority of my teenage years I was in hospital or home and now I am expected to get back into the real world and be 'normal'. 'Normal' in terms of socialising with friends, going back to school, studying all in which was taken away from me since being diagnosed. This is where Teens Unite have been my saviour, for a long time after treatment I was feeling lost, lost in a way that your friends and family can only understand what you are going through to a certain degree. I only found out about the charity when I was three years post transplant, but even then I was still trying to find myself and normality. From attending many fun events such as the activity stay, I have met a bunch incredible of people who I now consider as my close friends. The support and encouragement you get from the charity is just phenomenal and I cannot thank them enough for their continuous support. When Teens Unite asked me to be their guest blogger, without a shadow of a doubt I said yes! Why? My goal has always been to help others who are in position I was in by sharing my story, hence the reason of starting my own blog. Something I never lost was hope and that is exactly what I want people to take away from my experience.
Thank you for reading,
Kirushni
Teens Unite a teenage cancer charity very close to heart, are launching a brand new blog website, and I am very excited to announce I will be their guest blogger. The website is mainly aimed at young people who are currently on or have finished treatment, and I hope to give them a positive mindset that things do get better after cancer by sharing my story. In today's post I will be rewinding back to the beginning to life before cancer and to where I am today. So here we go........
Life before Cancer? I was an ordinary 12 year old, loving my new secondary school, making new friends and getting through the awkward stages of having weird hairstyles and sense of fashion! I started to feel unwell a day before my school trip to France in March 2010 , where I was experiencing headaches and tiredness. I put this down to being excited for my school trip, unfortunately my symptoms did get worse throughout the trip where my headaches and tiredness were permanent and did not get better with any drugs. I literally remember having to drag myself out of bed everyday of the trip and forcing myself to enjoy Disneyland like all my friends but my body did not agree to this. I felt very weak, I barely ate anything during the trip as I felt sick. I somehow managed to get through the trip, mum immediately noticed I was not right as soon as I got in the car when she collected me from school that evening. I straight away went to bed and spent most of that weekend throwing up, feeling weak even to go downstairs, I would get up in the middle of the night sweating so much my Pyjama t-shirt would be soaked.
My diagnosis story is very long, but if you are interested in the full story check out my blog post about it http://kirushniscancerstory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/my-first-cancer-battle-part-one.html. Too cut it short, I had several trips to the GP, A&E, countless amount of antibiotics and ended up being blue lighted to London to the intensive care unit. My parents were told I was not going to make it, as my organs started failing one by one and doctors were puzzled to come to why any of this was occurring. After four weeks of being in intensive care unit I was eventually diagnosed with Anaplastic large cell Lymphoma, a rare type of non hodgkin lymphoma. As you can all imagine it was a complete shock to me and my family, I cannot express in words how scared I was but all I knew was I had to keep strong. I had a very long road ahead of me with recovering from intensive care with my breathing and learning how to walk again to my actual cancer treatment.
My treatment included six months of intense chemotherapy, a very awful six months where I faced side effects of sickness, losing my long thick black hair and many other physical and emotional effects. I eventually learnt how to walk again, finished treatment and I got the all clear in October 2010! Unfortunately six months later, I started experiencing severe stomach pains, and it was confirmed my cancer had returned. Being told you have this awful disease again is a feeling I cannot explain, it was mix of being scared, angry and disappointed. Was I going to let it get the better of me? Hell no! This time my treatment included three months of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. I was very lucky to have my brother as a 100% donor match as only 1 in 4 siblings are a match, meaning the stress of having find a donor during treatment was eliminated.
I am not going to bore you with all the side effects etc, but all I can say was my cancer journey was tough, tougher than I imagined it to be both emotionally and physically.Transplant took every little energy and I cannot emphasise how hard my road to recovery was. Every day I took it in my own stride, slowly but surely each day I was getting stronger and better. I am very fortunate to be here today throughout all the odds, I am now six years post transplant and living my life to the fullest. I am currently studying to be an Optician, and I am loving every moment of uni so far. Moving away was a massive step for me, but I am very fortunate to have made some great friends and to be living with the most amazing flat mates. Now that I have returned back into education since my break , I have so much will power and determination to do well and succeed in something I am so passionate about. I am so excited for what the future holds for me and cannot wait to be reach my goal one day.
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| Punting in Cambridge with Uni Friends |
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| Shard trip with Teens Unite |
Thank you for reading,
Kirushni
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