From one adventure to another...

1 & a half stone heavier & fatigued after Chemo
(Photo: Jo Clarke)

This time last year I was recovering from having Chemotherapy for Hodgkin Lymphoma. The battle against cancer was won but I felt utterly broken. Any sense of feeling attractive had gone. I was emotional, fatigued and couldn't imagine ever functioning as the old youthful Kat again.

52 miles at the London Bikeathon
(Photo Kat Howells)

Since then I have slowly improved. My energy has returned... enough to cycle 52 miles and walk 20 miles at two charity events less than a week apart in September; I have lost a stone and a half since my treatment (it may be more but I haven't weighed myself recently); and most dramatically I took voluntary redundancy from the BBC where I have worked for nearly 12 years.

I write this blog from the other side of the world. In January I set off on a very big adventure of a more positive kind than the one that I went through with my health.

Not a bad place to relax!

I started off in India, traveled to Thailand, Vietnam and now Malaysia. It hasn't quite been two months so I still have three and a half months and several more countries to go. I have met lots of interesting people, seen some fantastic sights, eaten delicious food and had life changing experiences. Most of all, I feel like I have turned a page. I still feel the shadow that cancer has cast on my life, not to mention the positive outcomes it brought. But I now have something more interesting and positive to talk about.

So after a couple of months of constantly moving from place to place, I am sitting in a hotel room in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia writing to you about this new adventure I am experiencing. 

Koh Samui Spa retreat

Thanks for you joining me!

Lymphatic Cancer Awareness Week

Before I heard that I may have Lymphoma last year I didn’t even realise that there were other blood cancers than Leukaemia. But then I also had no idea that there were different types of Chemo, so getting diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin Lymphoma in July was an education. Thankfully I’m now in remission.

Just as we say goodbye to London 2012 another important date in the calendar arrived. Today saw the start of Lymphatic Cancer Awareness Week.

Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research say that "around 17,000 people are diagnosed with lymphoma in the UK every year - that's one every 30 minutes"! They are far more eloquent than me about what lymphoma is and what the symptoms are, so feel free to check their website out: http://leukaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk/research/lymphatic-cancer-awareness-week 

Oh, and while you're there you might recognise a familiar face:

http://leukaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk/personal-stories/patient-stories/kat-macaulays-story

Yes, that's me!

Rather fittingly I'll be finishing this week cycling 52 miles in the London Bikeathon for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. This is just half of a big personal challenge as I will also be walking 20 mile's for Maggie's Centres less than a week later (more news of that to come in future posts). All this is less than a year after I finished chemo so please sponsor me:

http://www.justgiving.com/katsbigchallenge1