Hello All,

A couple on here already know but this past year has been a very difficult one for my wife, myself and our family.

In April during a routine blood test my wife found out she had Leukaemia. Completely out of the blue, no symptoms nor concerns, just a routine blood test that changed our lives. There’s no cancer specialist ward here on the Isle of Man that can deal with Leukaemia, so she had to come home that day, pack a small bag, go back to hospital and be flown to Liverpool the next morning to The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool , where aside from a stint over in the ICU at The Liverpool Royal, she’s been almost ever since. I’ve not been able to see her very much because of Covid restrictions aside from I was able to be by her side everyday when she was in the ICU (or related departments) for a month. She had complications as she picked up a chest infection during the first round of chemo. In the ICU she suffered multiple organ failure, died for 7 minutes whilst I held her hand and they tried and eventually brought her back. And then the strangest day in my life happened a couple of weeks later after she’d spent that entire time in a coma where one doctor told me she’d beaten the cancer and was in remission whilst another then told me she had severe brain swelling, bleeds on the brain, may never wake up, and if she did would certainly not be the woman she was. Then the next day…she woke up…and within weeks was back at Clatterbridge continuing to burn away every chance of the cancer still hiding in her.

She’s somehow, miraculously made a complete recovery from everything she suffered due to the infection, and is about to start her last round of chemo and has been without any sign of it since the first round in April put her in remission. The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and The Royal have been nothing short of incredible and they have not only cared for my wife, but been her friends, her family, and absolutely everything she’s needed for the past 7 months. There’s no way I could ever repay them for what they’ve done in such difficult and heartbreaking conditions. They’re all heroes, beyond heroes. I couldn’t sum up what they are if I wrote another million words. The NHS truly is a beautiful thing that we’re beyond lucky to have.

Now all of this is coming to an end and she’ll hopefully be home in November, my wonderful sister in law is raising some money for Clatterbridge and the work they do. We could never raise enough to begin to thank them, but anything raised helps potentially save someone’s life, make somebody’s life in there more comfortable, or help to employ another amazing worker to carry out the unbelievable work they all do right from the porters and cleaners that are in so many ways as incredible as the amazing nurses, doctors and consultants. There’s a few things that we’ll be doing to raise money but she took the initial step and we want everything to go through her as she’s been as invaluable as anyone during this time.

So the link is here if anyone would like to give, and I’ll put my wife’s Leukaemia Journey Instagram link here too as she wanted to show people her journey, the good and the bad. That alone has done so much for her and others, just sharing her journey she’s gained and provided support through it.

My wife is the most incredible woman and though I knew it before, even I didn’t understand just how incredible.

Just a little could make a big difference in a world where just one of the drugs she needed to save her cost £40,000 a day and needed special permission to me administered. I want to try to make sure others have the some opportunity to fight as she did.

Thanks for reading.

V

https://instagram.com/theleukaemiadiaries?utm_medium=copy_link

https://uk.gofundme.com/f/mels-fundraising-for-the-clatterbridge-cancer-ce