A year ago, as a healthy 33-year-old I could never have imagined what the universe had in store for me. First, I was diagnosed with leukaemia and spent the autumn having intensive chemotherapy. Then in February I learned I would need a stem cell transplant, around the same time as the first few cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the UK. I spent March in hospital having my failing immune system completely wiped out by radiotherapy, and had my lifesaving transplant on the day the WHO declared a global pandemic. Getting home after weeks in isolation should have been a relief, but with the virus killing hundreds of people every day, it was obvious my recovery wasn’t going to be how I’d imagined it . . .  

Because of my leukaemia I haven’t worked for a year, and I’m likely to continue suffering financially for as long as coronavirus is a part of all our lives. This is on top of the huge emotional burden of going through cancer treatment, cutting myself off from loved ones and dealing with the overwhelming uncertainty of simply being alive at this moment in history . . .

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/shielding-second-wave_uk_5f7125eac5b64deddeef957b

Stylist January 2021

My hair was the least of my worries when, at the age of 33, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, and told I would need to undergo chemotherapy. I wasn’t someone who dwelt much on my physical appearance, or that of others – it’s what’s on the inside that counts, after all. And while I wasn’t exactly looking forward to being bald, I didn’t feel I was losing my finest feature either. At least that’s what I told myself. . .

 I’d happily have agreed to being bald forever if it meant I could be cured and get on with my life. I gave away spare hair products that I knew I wouldn’t have reason to use for some time, and never felt emotional about it. It’s only hair, I told myself. . .

But I soon realised – every time I caught sight of myself in a mirror – that such a dramatic change in appearance, one that was inseparable from my cancer, had altered my perception of my whole identity . . . 

https://www.stylist.co.uk/beauty/hair/hair-loss-cancer-chemotherapy/457777

The Mighty March 2021

When Claire Shepherd was diagnosed with blood cancer at the age of 28, she had a surprisingly good understanding of what this meant at the molecular level. Ever since a work placement she had undertaken during her degree in medical biochemistry, she’d been fascinated by surface plasmon resonance (SPR); a technique used in oncology (amongst other things) to select drugs capable of targeting cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy ones . . .

https://themighty.com/2021/03/young-professionals-expertise-coping-with-cancer/