Our
story:

Back in February
2011, after several months of illness, my dad sat our family down at the
kitchen table and told us that he had been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. Looking
back, I know that I did not fully appreciate or process what this meant for him
and my family. The rest of that year was a blur as following four months of
chemotherapy, Mr Allum and his team from the Royal Marsden carried out a ten-hour
operation which removed a section of his oesophagus. I remember my mum giving
me the good news that he was conscious but he faced a tough few days and months
following the operation. Dad was kept in the CCU under 24-hour surveillance for
the week after the operation and then had to undergo three months of chemotherapy
post-op.

Nevertheless,
the Royal Marsden and the NHS showed endless care and attention in all aspects
of his recovery and by the end of November 2016, my dad got the all-clear that
he was cancer-free. He has reflected on how comforted he felt by the Marsden
staff telling him that his was a treatable cancer, and in the six years after
the all-clear, dad is determined to make the most of a second chance at life.
The gratitude he feels everyday for those at the Royal Marsden has only
increased in recent years…

A decade after
my dad’s diagnosis and with the country in its third lockdown of the COVID pandemic,
I was living in Norwich when my family asked for a zoom call. It was then that I
had the same feeling as ten years prior as my mum informed me that what she
thought had just been acid reflux was in fact a neuro-endocrine tumour in the
tail of her pancreas. Speaking with Mum now, she recalls her shock at this
diagnosis but also the pain in telling members of her family whilst in the
context of a national lockdown. I must admit that as soon as I heard the word ‘pancreas’
I immediately thought the worst, but things moved quickly in a positive
direction and she had an operation in March 2021. However, this operation was
aborted as the surgeon saw that the tumour had grown and was too risky to
remove there and then.

Chemotherapy
followed for the next twelve months until the brilliant Mr Bhogal and his
fantastic team attempted to remove the tumour on 14^th September
2022. After an eight-hour operation and a nervous day for all her friends and
family, we received the good news from the Marsden that the operation had been
a success. Although Mum now has only a third of her pancreas left, no spleen
and a few sections of her stomach and colon gone, just a month after the
operation she was told that she is cancer free. Mum emphasises how she has a
new-found respect for the capabilities of the human body and is motivated to
look after it and take it to amazing places.

For both of
my parents on their individual and shared journeys, both of them have
identified how the positivity, hard work and care that so many different NHS
staff offered was invaluable to them. Whether this was through reassuring
conversations, bedside chatter or even getting a small snack for them, this
really was (and is) a community of care. During my mum’s battle there has
certainly been an element of déjà vu for our family, none more so than my dad.
Asking him how he felt going back to the Marsden to drop off mum for her
surgery in September he says, “going back into the Royal Marsden certainly magnified
those feelings of gratitude for myself, but more than anything I was reassured
that I would be leaving her in the most capable hands.”

Cancer
shrinks your horizons to days, whether that’s the next CT scan or a blood test
next week. Being clear of it now has broadened those horizons for our family
and has given us a real sense of liberation. I can never put into words how
grateful I am to the Royal Marsden for providing us with that freedom, but I
hope that through charitable donations they can continue to support other
families who need it most and continue to make the greatest differences to
people’s lives.

The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity raises money solely to support The Royal Marsden, a world-leading cancer centre. We ensure our nurses, doctors and research teams can provide the very best care and develop life-saving treatments, which are used across the UK and around the world. From funding state-of-the-art equipment and groundbreaking research, to creating the very best patient environments, we will never stop looking for ways to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.