Page 20 - She's One Crazy Lady!

One in two of“
me and the thought of being locked in a room when the scenery outside was so stunning and inviting was too much. I had to be out there – free to explore and breathe in the fresh air. My hotel room, although glorious to sit and write in, just feet away from the shores and stunning views across Lake Windermere, was not conducive to being productive. I had told the manager I was there to write and every day staff would ask how I was getting on. On leaving, I was surprisingly presented with a bouquet of flowers with the message: “I hope your story ends here.” Oh, dear. The notebooks and pens lay relatively untouched, but I’d had a wonderful week – my head
was clearer, and I truly identified with Beatrix’s love of The Lakes and I vowed I would be back!
us will get cancer. Despite rapid advancements with treatments.
Those first harsh, but honest, first words of my story have, indeed, been told to far too many people worldwide. Thousands, upon thousands of women and men will have heard them. What do current statistics say? One in seven women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. One in two of us will get cancer, despite rapid advancements with treatments.
Scary, isn’t it?
“You have breast cancer!” are words no one wants to hear.
June 28th, 2001. The day that will be etched in my mind forever.
Scary, isn’t”
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it?
The day Mr Stewart, my consultant, gave me the news. It was surreal, for earlier that morning I had been standing in front of Her Majesty the Queen with a group of children and colleagues from school when Her Majesty visited Kettering. Never did I imagine the impact of Mr
Stewart’s words would take me into a completely different world. His words led me to where ‘I’ am today .... ‘here’. Yes, ‘here’ – as a former teacher and headteacher and now known as a ‘Crazy Lady!’ Yes, indeed, I’m still here, I’m alive! And twenty-two years on from my diagnosis my story, also here, is at last, finished! Hooray!
What a two decades it has been! I’ve travelled on a very long road and there has been much stopping and starting as well as endless diversions, but my ‘story’ has been lived and now told! It is such a relief – not just for me, but for everyone around me who urged me, encouraged me and nagged me to get it done – my former hairdresser, Tanya, being one of them. As a very talented artist I had huge respect for her as she, as a