Renee
Age 63
Diagnosed October 2020
Renee versus cancer
Renee 3 - cancer 1
Unfortunately cancer now has the killer hand!
I have lived with cancer for 20 years and beat it 3 times!
I lost both my parents to it and I lost the love of my life (my late husband) to it.
I received the news in October 2020 that it had spread to my lung and was now incurable.
I was waiting for that news.
I always knew it was going to kill me.
I can’t change what’s planned for me. Someone once told me that when you come into the world, there is a time and a date noted when you will leave again!
We are all on borrowed time.
That’s why you have to savour and enjoy every moment!
I consider myself to be extremely fortunate. My life has had ups and downs, but I never focused on the downs!
I have been blessed with the best ups, and I have loved every minute of my life. I have lived life to the full and I will continue to do so until I can’t!
I wanted to do this exhibition to let others see that there are many ways of coping with a death sentence.
We are no longer survivors, we are thrivers. All we can fight for now, it to be noticed, to raise awareness and raise funds for trials and ultimately a cure.
My personal goal is to counter the cultural silence around death and dying. All of us need to hear the stories we’d rather not hear.
I am no longer a pretty pink ribbon representing hope for the future.
Being diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer takes away the future we saw for ourselves.
I have chosen to face it the way I have faced all adversaries in my life.
I am not ‘brave’ and I am not a ‘warrior’, but I still have my positive attitude and my sense of humour.
I am a fighter and will fight to the end for my voice to be heard.
I hope in some small way, I can inspire big questions and positive change.
Eddie is helping me celebrate my great news!
I Just literally got my scan results after 29 very long days, and it was worth the wait! I am STABLE!
It’s getting harder every time to put the days in waiting to be told!
I consider myself extremely lucky as I am still on oral chemotherapy, but know how my luck can change in a heartbeat.
The combination of letrozole and palbociclib having been working for me now for 19 months even though I’ve had them delayed most months due to low neutrophils (they’re very low this month, so delayed again, but it’s a tiny problem to have)
This is the first line of treatment for me and so very very doable, when my luck runs out on this one I still have quite a few options, but I feel quite choked up with relief today as every 12th Tuesday afternoon waiting on the dreaded phone call, I am expecting the worst, and the longer I am into my treatment the harder it gets!
My only complaint is, why can’t stage 4 cancer patients like myself get our scan results a lot quicker, we know it’s possible!
The scanxiety is real!
The number of people in my situation dying has gone up to 32 every single day and unfortunately it’s heartbreaking for us reading most days on our online support group that we are passing away at such an alarming rate!
I really can’t express the sigh of relief and the welling up I have felt today but it’s definitely tears of joy on this occasion!
Copyright © JENNIFER WILLIS PHOTOGRAPHY - All Rights Reserved.
Supported by www.brand-ambition.com