Lobe Yourself

Bring a woolly hat they said! First of all I'd like to start with a thank you to all who donated! we're so close to our £5000 target for The Brain Tumour Charity so please keep donating at www.justgiving.com/moneyforbrains Okay, so it does usually rain in Scotland, especially up high in the clouds...but we had a fluke day of perfect clear skies and 20 degrees Celsius at base. In the above picture it is 8am and we're in full weatherproof gear for the predicted thunderstorms on Saturday 10th August 2019! I've even got my waterproof trousers on. We set off from the Tourism Centre at the base of Ben Nevis (Glen Nevis) at 08:30, here, there are toilets and the opportunity to fill up your water bottle. You start off in a farm field track amongst the mountain sheep which prepares you for the loose rocky path that continues for the duration of your climb. This route is called the Mountain Path or Tourist Path; it is considered easy/mild for novice climbers like us....

In this post, I will be discussing the more intrinsic 'side-effects' that run alongside having a brain tumour. Some people may find this level of honesty triggering but I believe it is important to be honest with an audience who do not know what it's like to be the patient. Scars and bald patches: A lot of people who have had brain surgery will have a lifelong scar on their head; I have no doubt that you will have seen one before. Some are big and cover one side of the head to the other, some are small, some are healed and some are fresh wounds. A lot of people, like myself, are inoperable and do not bear one; but we may have a bald patch due to radiotherapy or various chemotherapy treatments.  Scar after care can be tricky sometimes: they can be itchy, dry, oozy, stretched, keloid, hypertrophic or even be numb. Some patients forget they have them and some just can't. Everyone' s healing process is different and this is why they vary so much in aesthe...

Last weekend, myself and 20 other Young Ambassadors of The Brain Tumour Charity met for the first time. It was both fascinating and emotive being around so many other young people like myself who were so heavily affected by Brain Tumours. Most impressively, it was amazing to experience how motivated we became to make a massive difference in the world of brain tumour research. We all had the chance to share our stories, the amount of variation in these was astounding: every brain tumour story has it's unique differences and certain sets of challenges. We were able to help each other through these thought processes and contribute whatever advice or lessons learnt from experiences that we had had. One of the major issues that almost everyone had a resounding issue with was the communication between the patient and the family and friends. In some cases it felt awkward, in most cases it felt un-equipped and in a few instances patients were left isolated. We felt this really need...

It's been a full year since my diagnosis and if I do say myself, it has actually been overall a good year. Going into this journey, especially with the state of shock not wearing off for a few months, and no sense of expectation for my future...I feel like I've achieved quite a lot in 12 months. Being a very practical person, I remember the first thing I did was sort out my finances and name my LPA's so I didn't have to worry about anything should I have a worst case scenario. I found myself worrying a lot more about living as a 'vegetable' than I did about dying. I'll be the first to admit that this journey isn't the easiest but there have been so many fantastic things that have come out of Year 1. Having this Brain Tumour has opened so many doors for me that I otherwise would never have explored. I truly believe that my quality of life and the quality of my relationships has improved so much because of it. I really live in the moment and enj...

As part of the Positive Stories series I wanted to do an in-depth introduction into how other Brain Tumour Warriors are promoting positivity beyond their own experience.  I work closely with Daniel, who is a Social Entrepreneur and the Founder of New-Fin . New-Fin is a company that seeks to help teenagers with the mental and spiritual aspects following Brain Surgery. At only 19 years old Daniel has survived major brain surgery and is thriving with his new found lust for life, working hard in college and with building his company. Below is a series of images of Daniel's journey. New-Fin was born when Daniel noticed that his integration from hospital to home was something that didn't go so smoothly; I think this is something a lot of people resonate with. When you leave the four walls of the hospital you no longer have that continued specialised care and guidance; this lack of care leaves a lot of teenagers and young adults without the confidence to re-enrol in school,...

Seeing loved ones go through cancer: At the age of seven, I watched both my Nan and Granddad end their battles with cancer just a year apart from each other. I didn’t anticipate watching any other loved ones go through the same.   In the June of 2014, a couple of days before sitting my A-Level exams, it felt as though my world came crashing down. My dad was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer. I cannot even begin to underpin a single emotion I was feeling but it was an amalgamation of sadness, fear and anger. I remember asking my dad how he was feeling after he had been diagnosed and I was taken aback when he responded with “ok”. He said that receiving a diagnosis was much better than not knowing what was wrong, despite me feeling like this was the worst possible scenario.     My dad’s strength throughout his chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery is definitely the reason why he is still with us today. I believe that his positive mental attitud...

The journey of cancer is one of identity . Cancer somehow manages to strip you of everything you believe to be, and the real challenge is to once again define who you are. I once described myself as a student, a primary school teacher living in London and chasing her dreams . On the 15th of April 2016 I became a patient, a dying woman controlled by the cancer growing through her very core. I watched my life crumble through my hands. When you battle cancer, you realise just how strong you can be when you simply need to survive. I am now happier than I have ever been and it’s thanks to my cancer. When you are sat at the bottom of the well, there will come a day when you try to get back on to your feet and start climbing. You also soon learn who is truly there to help pull you back up, and those who just came to watch. My journey has been some what up and down and its not over yet. Symptoms: It all started on a night out with my best friend where all good tales do. I ma...