My Story

Being diagnosed with kidney cancer in April 2020, 3 weeks into the first coronavirus lockdown, was quite a shock to say the least! Nobody wants to hear they have a cancerous tumour in them at any time let alone at a time when the country was in lockdown and hospitals were cancelling scans and operations! Nor do you particularly want to hear that you have cancer over the telephone but needs must in the world in which we were enduring at the time. It was a tough time for the whole world, but strangely it meant that I was home with my family at that time, able to sit in the garden in the sunshine 'relaxing', and waiting for the NHS to restart operations so they could remove the tumour along with the affected kidney. Which for me was a 6 week wait, and once the hospital opened up its operating theatres again I was 2nd on the list. It's now been almost a year since that op and I'm lucky enough to have had 3 clear scans since so fingers crossed they'll always be clear. There's absolutely no guarantee of that though so regular scans will be needed as kidney cancer is a pesky blighter and the sooner anything suspicious is found the better! It's also good to know that treatments for kidney cancer are getting better and more varied so with regular funding we can kick this cancer up the butt, extending and saving patients lives.

Last year we raised an amazing amount of money for KCUK by shaving heads, this year I'm going to be doing their Walk For A Cure challenge and walk a total of 21 miles around Bushy Park in Teddington over the three days, so 7 miles each day, woohoo! Please give a much as you can, it really does save lives. 

Thank you

Nicola x