The power of hope

WHEN mother of two Anne Fox was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma more than one year ago she was determined to stay positive and strong.

 

That strength helped to push her, her family and friends, over the finish line of the Flora Women’s Mini-Marathon raising funds for the Mid-Western Cancer Foundation.

Anne, from Corrovorrin Green walked the 10km in a bid to give something back for what she says was the “great care” she received following her diagnosis.

Following treatment, Anne’s tumours are now considered ‘low grade’ and while they may never fully be gone, she is a firm believer in optimism and is looking forward to the future. Hoping that sharing her experience may help others in similar circumstances, Anne spoke to The Clare Champion recalling the “shock” she and her husband Roger felt when a visit to her GP resulted in her being admitted to Limerick Regional Hospital and her subsequent treatment.

The 45-year-old mum recalled, “I wasn’t feeling very well. I was more tired than I had been, but I was blaming work, life and family. I was finding I was coming home from work and I’d be ready to drop. I thought I had pulled a muscle or hurt a rib or something and I was having problems getting a deep breath. I work as an attendant at St Joseph’s so it can be pretty physical work. I went to my GP and I knew my stomach was swollen, but it had been like that for a long time so I hadn’t paid much heed to it.

“When I mentioned to my GP that I thought my stomach was swollen she said lie up and I’ll have a look, then she told me I had a massive growth.”

Both Anne and her husband went straight to Limerick that day for a private ultrasound and two days later she was admitted to Limerick Regional Hospital.

“Everything happened very fast. I was admitted and they decided I needed to be referred on. The didn’t say straight out that it was to an oncologist but I knew,” she said.

Anne asked her sister, a nurse, to be with her when she met consultant oncologist Professor Rajnish K Gupta.

“He explained he felt it was his area we were dealing with, but until we did further tests he couldn’t say for sure. It was like a whirlwind for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

“I had every test under the sun that you could imagine from nodes removed, lumbar puncture, x-rays, CT scans, biopsies. Half of them I don’t remember because I would be fasting and knocked out a bit and I’d only be coming around and I’d be brought to the next one. It just went in a haze, but it was fantastic that everything could be done in three days and I was home again.”

While delighted to be home with her family, she said being discharged was one of the hardest things to deal with.

“I had to wait for three weeks for the results of the tests. All I wanted was to start something that would help. I felt like I was in limbo and I wanted to get back in control again,” she said.

Three weeks after her tests Anne received her diagnosis. It emerged that she had a number of tumours in her torso area, including one in her stomach that was 18cm by 12cm. A setback just before she was due to start chemotherapy did not dampen her positive attitude.

“I was supposed to have chemo every three weeks for 12 weeks, and I wouldn’t lose my hair with the type of treatment I would be on. It didn’t sound too bad but the morning I was to start treatment, some tests came back from Scotland and it changed everything.

“The results showed that the tumours were so aggressive and I had to change the chemo. I had to have it every two weeks and I was going to lose my hair. But at that stage, I didn’t care. All I wanted to do was get started.”

“The initial dose was frightening,” she said, recalling her six sessions of chemotherapy treatment. “You don’t know what it’s going to do to you and you’re scared. I came home and I felt ok for a while. In that first week I lost a stone in weight, which was mainly tumour. The next lot of sessions went pretty well. It’s like a distant memory now.”

After four sessions a scan showed her tumours had a 70% reduction, she is now undergoing a different type of treatment.

“After two more sessions there was no further reduction so it was pointless continuing. I thought that because there is still a bit left they might do some radium or something, but because of the position and because they are now gone to ‘low grade’ we are just going to hold off.

“I’m now having an antibody treatment, which is kind of like a maintenance programme every eight weeks. I’m hoping it will keep everything in order and if I stay as I am, I will be fine.”
She has high praise for the treatment she received from the nurses and doctors at the hospital. She said a major support for her in the aftermath of her treatment was the liaison nurse who she could call on anytime.

“It’s those kinds of services that are invaluable. It’s not just the medical side, it’s the caring afterwards,” she said.

Anne is also going to a monthly meeting of women who have gone through cancer at the Clare Women’s Network in the Clonroad Business Park.

She had the opportunity to go to Lourdes with the Clare 250. “I found it an unreal experience, and I’d like to do some fundraising for them in the future. I can’t say enough about how well we were treated over there. We met some fantastic people and I’m still friends with many of them. I believe that you get a lot of support from meeting other people who are in the same boat as you.”

She believes that a support network like that in Limerick should be available in Ennis. “We’re such a big town and there really isn’t anything like a walk-in centre here. It would be great if there was a place in the middle of town, even just a little room where people could go and meet.

“I think what people need is to have someone to talk to, to someone who has been through it that they can relate to. Maybe a place someone could drop in, have a coffee and do some activities like maybe flower arranging,” she said.

According to Anne she has got amazing help throughout her battle with cancer. “The support I got from day one has been amazing, my family, friends, work colleagues. And of course I have a fantastic husband and two kids.”

Testament to that was the encouragement she got when she decided to enter the mini-marathon. She was joined in the challenge by between 25 and 30 family and friends, raising more than €6,500.

Anne is now looking positively to the future. “What I have now is low grade, it could change but I’m hoping that it will stay as it is with this drug I’m on. I feel it’s doing good and it’s not any worse. I try and stay positive, I find positivity and getting out and about makes a big difference. I’m very optimistic for the future.

“Professor Gupta told me it could appear back, it could be a week, a month, a year or ten years. It might never happen. You hear such bad stories and then you know your own isn’t so bad at all. Just that initial couple of days was a big shock but once you start dealing with it and you see positive results, it’s good.”

Details of the monthly support group facilitated by the Clare Women’s Network can be found at www.clarewomensnetwork.org.