Mount Kilamanjiro

Mount Kilamanjiro

Mount Kilimanjaro Challenge

Tuesday 13 December 2011

War on Cancer- First annual party night :)

War on Cancer's first annual party was a huge success! I'm not even talking about the money side here, I'm talking about all the new friends that were made on the night, the amazing amount of cancer awareness that was made...people asking questions, not afraid to mention "The big C", openly talking about the still taboo subject of cancer....this alone made the night worthwhile and I believe a major success! Thank you all for attending, lending your support to my cause and expressing interest in future events.....I couldn't ask for more than that :)

Thank you to each and everyone of you who bought raffle tickets and a massive congratulations to the winners!

Everyone enjoyed the night I think lol!.... we had fun and lots of it! A massive thank you to the DJ who donated his fee to WoC and for also donating a bottle of malt Whiskey to the raffle we ran on the night. We had three prizes that we sold tickets for on the night, first prize was a luxury food hamper, second prize was a beautiful fruit hamper which was donated by Giggly Sue and third prize was the bottle of malt Whiskey donated by the Dj.

The grand prize raffle was drawn, Peter W from Dantex Graphics won the First Prize of the 32" LCD TV, Second Prize was won by Carol Metcalfe from Home Care division of Bradford Metropolitan Council and Third Prize went to Lindsay Sessions from Drury Pms Ltd.

After all the prizes were bought we raised a total of £211.00! wow and thank you very much ! Have the party was a really nice way to finish our fundraising efforts for 2011. Please keep an eye out as War on Cancer will be back out organizing events so people can come join in the fun and help raise money alog the way. We will be holding our next meeting mid January and more information and details will follow :)

We have raised £1563.00 from four events we have held! this is going really well and I am really happy with our progress.

Check out the upcoming events page....I have updated it with some of the idea's we have come up with at the moment.

In the gallery, I am also going to load some photos from the shopping night...check out Louise's gorgeous cup-cakes!

I hope you enjoy the photos!

We will be looking at getting the shop back up and running over the Christmas period, don't worry I will let you know when it is lol!!

Until next time
Tracy

Sunday 4 December 2011

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

We have SOLDOUT on our first annual fundraising party night! Thank you to everyone who has bought a ticket...we are going to have a blast people!!. I am really proud to announce that demand outstripped supply....this is fantastic for future events!
We will be having a great fun night of fun and laughter.....folks I will apologize now for when I get on the dance floor to do my dance moves....it's not clever, it's not pretty and it's probably not all that safe...but hey I enjoy myself lol!!! Some of the food is going to be made and donated by Jeannie, Gillian,Caroline and Giggly Sue...thank you girls...I really appreciate it :) Tickets will be on sale on the night for a luxury food hamper and the grand prize draw for the 32" LCD TV,Dab radio and bottle of Champagne. Good luck to everyone who has bought a ticket :) And our very own Hero Dave who has volunteered to be waxed for donations....so come on folks be very generous for his pain!!

Everyday when I get up I think about the support I have from all of you who take time out of your lives to read my blog, share it on FB and retweet it out to help spread a positive message and raise awareness. Help organize events, turn up and join in the events, help sell the bands, raffle tickets....talk about War on Cancer with family,friends and colleagues,and last but certainly not least help raise awareness....and I feel so happy, proud and overwhelmed!

Thank you one and all....you will never understand how much it means to me, you all help me to achieve my dreams of helping others who have gone through, are going through or will go through cancer in the future. I as you know went through the invasive treatments and fully appreciate and understand how important the support of all the staff is, when having chemo...the staff in HODU become your family and the bonds you make with fellow patients and staff are strong. Even now when I go for a check up at the hospital... I love to go see all the wonderful nurses in HODU. I love that I can give something back and will continue to do my utmost in the future.

I have had on a personal level a year of ups and downs! It started off with all our training ( 5 months) for our Walk the Walk London Moonwalk...we Team L'Oreal ( Jeannie, Sue, Helen, Caroline and myself ) had a fantastic time, it's really hard to put into words how amazing a time we had. It's unbelievable to look out over what can only be described as a sea of pink as 15,000 people walk 26.2 miles all in the name of breast cancer! it was great to see so many guys doing it in their bras too! unlike Race for Life which is a women only event( which I don't agree with...guys get breast cancer too!) it's also the fact they can do it in support of a loved one. It was worth all the training.
About 10 miles in I became very unwell with various things, I had felt light headed and nearly passed out a couple of times I had a pounding headache, pains in my neck,lower back and pelvic pains. I was bloating up and I had had problems with my ankle supports ( I had to take them off ), I knew this was going to cause me problems with my right ankle....since I ruptured it back in 06 I have had occasional issues, but knew it was going to be painful with walking the 26.2 miles, hell it was painful even with the support on during the training. I have to say London like all big cities is not a good place when you are wanting to be sick there are not many tree's to be found!

When we got to the 22 mile marker I was most definitely running on pure determination and my stubbornness! every mile from there I had to stop about 4 times to try and ease the pain in my back, I was really fatigued and had the mother of all blisters on my foot too! But even though I was in all honesty in a right state, I knew no matter what I was going to complete the Moonwalk...it was afterall the first challenge I had set myself while still having my chemo. I would seriously have crawled over the finish line if needed!
It was overwhelming to cross the line holding hands with Jeannie and Sue..yep we had done it! This was a massive high...even though I had been so unwell for the majority, I was over the moon at completing my first personal challenge.....the fact my partner and friends wanted to do it with me made it all the better! It's a memory I will always cherish.

It took me over a month to recover from the Moonwalk but was definitely worth it....Team L'Oreal raised over £1000.00 doing this most worthy event.

The second challenge I had set myself was to climb Mt.Kilimanjaro for cancer...I decided 2012 was the year...I have said for every year I get the ok at my check ups at the breast clinic I will do a new challenge.

This is where War on Cancer was born. I decided if I was going to climb Mt.Kilimanjaro as my personal challenge...then I might as well try to raise money for cancer charities at the same time. I chose Walk the Walk breast cancer and Clic Sargent children's cancer charities this time.So up to the actual climb in 2012 I said we will do various fund raising events to raise money for these very worthy charities, have fun along the way and involve as many people as possible, it's not just about raising money but also awareness. My aim has always been to show that you can live a full and challenging life whilst surviving cancer...maybe you have to adjust some of your goals, but life is for living, not just surviving! A target of raising £10,000 has been set and I am confident we will make it!

On my health side it hasn't been the best of times in the last 18 months. I have had many problems with lower pelvic and back pains. When I had my 6 month check up at the breast clinic in March, it was agreed that I would change my cancer drug from Tamoxifen to Letrozole because of the side effects I had been suffering from for the last 13 months, I felt they were that bad it was affecting my quality of life and I really couldn't face another 4 years of it. I didn't know until I got an appointment through that I had to have a DEXA scan, this is a scan to measure your bone density, Letrozole causes amongst other problems Osteoporosis. So my logic behind this scan was that I would go have it done and that would give my doctors the base data to check against future scans to determine over the next few years if the Letrozole did indeed affect my bone density. A decent logic I thought!

My GP phoned me 3 weeks later to tell me to go in to see them. The results had come back and I had already got Osteoporosis! to say I was shocked is a massive understatement! I said to the doctor, are you sure the results are right? am I not too young to have Osteo?...yes I was not very informed about Osteoporosis at all...the only thing I knew was that it can cause your bones to break easily.....I really thought it was an illness that affected older people. I asked my doctor if it was just starting and she said no, it's full blown.

I had by the time we hit June had had 7 lots of antibiotics this year due to bladder infections, I had a laparoscopy in May as they couldn't say what was causing my pelvic and lower back pains.... the good news from the laparoscopy was that there were no signs of ovarian cancer :) This was great news but didn't solve the problems about my pelvic and back pains. I was referred to a consultant and was then sent for further tests.The tests confirmed I have a problem that has developed with my bladder so now on medication, I will see my consultant in January to see if medication levels need adjusting, he said he will try and keep the side effects to a minimum!

When I have just had my second check up of the year at the breast clinic we talked about the sore and stiff joints I have and a general bone ache the pain in my lower back never eases off these days, it bothers me whether I am sitting, standing or walking....he has contacted my GP to arrange a referral to a Rhuematologist, he doesn't think it's my cancer drug ( it's one of the side effects ) but needs checking out by a specialist. ( I really don't care who looks into it, I would love the pain in my back to go...even if it was just for a week or two! ). My GP ordered a load of blood tests which I had done last week, I go for the results on Wednesday and then await my referral.

But the great thing in between all of this is the fact we have held a few events and so far raised £1352.00! next year War on Cancer will be going all out to achieve that target. I have already started thinking about my challenge for 2013.....these things need plenty of planning! I know I want to do something in the USA.....

Thank you all for showing your support, I will be looking into whether to register War on Cancer as it's own charity early next year... I will keep you all informed.

War on Cancer I believe sums up who I am and what my life is about it is a great personal motivator as are the challenges I set myself. I hope you carry on enjoying the events we do, it is afterall about having lots of fun too!

Everyday I get up and smile, after been diagnosed with a life threatening illness I believe everyday is a bonus and I plan to make the most. I will try and knock things off my bucket list and will continue to raise money not just for research but to help make people feel as comfortable as possible whilst going through their treatments.

Thank you all for helping me realize my dream of doing this, you will never understand how much it means.

Until next time
Tracy x

Friday 2 December 2011

Happy Friday to one and all!

Hello everyone on this Friday the weekend starts now!

It's been a while since I last blogged, I owe some photo's still from the shopping event...I will put some up soon ;)

We are almost ready for our first annual fundraising bash!...the venue, DJ and waxer all confirmed hee hee!. I went and met up with Dave at the club Tuesday night to finalize details. The food is in hand as is the tombola and luxury food hamper. It is going to be a great night of fun! hopefully WoC will raise loads of money on the night.

The grand prize draw will take place on the night around 10pm...this give people time to still buy raffle tickets if they wish to. We will be raffling off the luxury food hamper on the night too. Thank you so much to the brave ( or nutty!! ) gents who are offering themselves up to be waxed for cash...so come on folks on the night or through electronic donation before hand throw some money down and rip off a strip in the name of charity!..anyone who donates on line we will photograph the moment the strip you have bought is pulled off for you and will list it in the first blog after the night! Photo's will be added to the gallery after.

The glow in the dark bands will be on offer and T shirts can be ordered on the night too.

I want to take this time to thank the individuals who have taken a moment to sign up and follow my blog...you will never know who much it means to me,the show of support is great and thank you also to my faithful friends who share the blog on the network sites after I post.

Thanks go to all who have helped out in the events we have held this year and especially all of you who joined in the fun. As I keep saying, it's not just important to raise money...awareness is really critical too. The message I am trying to get out there is for the people who are currently having their invasive treatments and to those who have yet to be diagnosed.....hang in there, it's not the best approx 9 month's of your life...but life is there for the taking after! please remember that...you can still challenge yourselves and do the things you want to... every day is a wonderful bonus and everything you achieve is a true measure of you as an individual. Get yourselves a bucket list and start knocking them off :)

Next year we are hoping to have loads of really fun things going on to make sure everyone enjoys themselves while helping WoC reach it's fund raising targets, even in these very tough times we are all living in, remember other are having an even worse time than you.

For me on the personal front it's been a bit of a rough couple of months. My consultant has put me on some tablets to try and sort out the problem with my bladder...yep yet more tablets ( 9 per day now ) He said they take a while to work as they have to reach a level in my system...yes there will be side effects and they will try to control them as much as they can. I go back to see him in Jan for a follow up, he said they will check me out and either increase or reduce the medication if the level is wrong. I don't know if this is a permanent thing with the med or if I can come off it at a later date. I have had some bloods done this week and will see my GP for the results the week after and a referral is being sorted to see a Rheumatologist . I don't know if the problem with my bones and joints is because of my cancer drug or the Osteoporosis, I guess time will tell.

Been to a great couple of concerts in the last couple of months, Jessie J in Oct was fantastic, interacted with the crowd really well, great live singer, great sense of fun and was never afraid to take the mickey out of herself....seriously if you get the chance....go see her! And in Nov it was Rihanna! fantastic show, great live singer but her interaction with the crowd was minimal which was a shame. All in all, good times were had by all :)

Ok, until next time

Stay safe and happy
Tracy