Page 137 - She's One Crazy Lady!

‘Crazy Hats Appeal’ and thinking how you never know what life will bring, or what new doors open when life doesn’t go where you expect.
And now things have come full circle, as I am sitting at home writing this after operations for breast cancer! Because of the Crazy Hats Appeal I was able to take part in the sentinel node trial with the Gamma probes (*) purchased with your Appeal’s donation. I know that my cancer has definitely not spread to my lymph nodes because of that equipment, and I cannot thank you enough for that. I know I still have radiotherapy to go through but am looking forward to returning to work before that starts.
Thank you all so much for all that
you have done for the breast care
unit at Kettering, and I want to encourage you to carry on with all your plans which I look forward to reading about in the Evening Telegraph.
Please accept the enclosed as a small contribution to the Appeal – my daughter made some cards which we sold recently.
With thanks. Yours sincerely, Cath Smith x”
(*) KGH was spearheading a new form of breast cancer treatment using Gamma Probes. The surgeon uses a harmless dye and a weak radioactive solution to locate the sentinel nodes. The nodes are removed and tested for signs of cancer. Basically, a sentinel node biopsy is a procedure to see if the cancer has spread – the word ‘sentinel’ meaning a guard of someone keeping watch. For some patients, this can reduce the amount of surgery needed and lower some of the side effects caused by more radical surgery including lymphoedema, which is swelling of the arm, soreness and stiffness of the shoulder.
Cath’s story made the front page of the Evening Telegraph and on different occasions I was thrilled to meet up with Cath and some of her friends from Desborough who had formed a support group and who did a lot of future fundraising for us. I was to meet up again with many of my new acquaintances and new-found friends.
With operations over. What was next on the agenda? I was dreading the enforced time at home knowing I would not be returning to school and, of course, weeks and weeks of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and medication that my body would have to cope with.
“Thank you all so much for all that you have done for the breast care unit at Kettering, and I want to encourage you to carry on with all your plans.
”
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