For The Love Of Small Joys

I’m Helen and this is my story

Of how I had a wonderful, full, happy life pre my diagnosis

A life with ups and downs yes

But one full of love and joy

A world that revolved around my family

Our three girls Jasmine, Lily and Rosie

With wider family and friends whirling around us

I am Mumma wholeheartedly, mostly, and proudly

Our girls, who Michael and I raise very much together

A life that always felt whole

 

But then inconceivably, incomprehensibly

Our lives got turned upside down

 

I got cancer (and no it doesn’t deserve a capital letter)

Follow me as I try to make sense of it all

Blog
How do I ‘holiday’ with cancer?
How do I ‘holiday’ with cancer?

How do I ‘holiday’ with cancer? Discuss….

Here’s another question for us to chew on; a juxtapose from my ‘happy little home hermit’ post a couple of weeks ago nicely illustrating my wildly oscillating happy/ sad brain ….welcome to the world of cancer 🤯

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Where we are today (March 2024)
Where we are today (March 2024)

I’ve just celebrated my 51st Birthday and I’ve had cancer now for 2 years and 2 months; where the hurdles and despair have been so tough, so dark at times ….but the highlight reels of family life have also brought me such joy. Each celebration more poignant, more special than ever before. The every day beautiful ordinariness of life is the source of my joy. Honestly. Sounds a bit too much like toxic positivity? It’s not. It’s a balance always with the dark days.

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How am I living with cancer?
How am I living with cancer?

Since my diagnosis so many of you have asked how do I get through my days, how do I cope, am I really living a life with those genuine ‘small joys’ (which of course we all know are actually the ‘BIG joys’). How do I grasp onto them when the shadow looms over me, and the dark valley is all around me, with terror lurking around every corner, waiting to suck me down?

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Follow my love of small joys on Instagram

Here’s me, waiting for my 11th scan since diagnosis of an aggressive renal carcinoma in 2022. Just a whopping 15cm tumour wrapped round my kidney which got fully removed (the kidney that is). Now (after various ‘other’ treatments) I
Is it ok to have cancer and be a happy little home hermit ? Discuss…. Been pondering this question recently Have come up with a resounding big fat YES ….. Not ALL the time, but a considerable amount of the time……yes I&
Early 18th Birthday celebrations for Lily, our middle treasure of a daughter, began tonight. Two years ago to the day I was told the 14.5cm ‘mass’ was ‘probably cancer’ and there was no blue sky, in-fact I was told it was prob