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Angie is a cancer survivor! She was first diagnosed with renal (kidney) cancer in July 2018 and had a partial left nephrectomy. She is a thankful and active supporter of her local New Zealand Cancer Society.
Take a support person to all appointments. Make notes and be kind to yourself.
You know your body and you know when things are not right. Follow your instinct and push for answers. It took 18 months to get a diagnosis. Through this time I was in pain had constant infections. If it wasn’t for people around me pushing me to keep going back to my GP, things may have been very different . Because I was too young to have Renal cancer I wasn’t tested {for it}.
Don’t let things get on top of you. Live life to the full and enjoy it. Make memories as often as possible, and take photos to capture it.
Be kind to yourself – whether you are the cancer patient or support person. Every journey is different. Try to accept help from others. Rest when you can and take each day as it comes- some days will be better than others. Try to find happiness and pleasure in your daily life and keep things as normal as you can during your journey.
I feel stronger as a person. I try to live life to the fill and spend time with those I love–I am always capturing memories. Try to not take things for granted as we all have an expiry date with or without cancer.
Humour is one of the things that got me through–much to the dismay of my family. I remember sitting on the coach one day watching some sort of murder mystery programme and the person had killed someone and fed them to the pig to hide the evidence. So I started giggling. My husband and my mum turned and looked at me like I had gone mad. Once I had calmed down I looked at them both with a serious face and said, “If I die, you won’t feed me to Maggie will you?” (Maggie was our pet pig at the time). They just stared at me. My response was “To Soon?” Yes, it was to soon, but it made me laugh!
The support I received from the Selwyn Cancer Society. The “C Club” is one that you never want to be part of, but you meet some amazing people who support you through everything. I was also privileged to be able to light a candle for the closing ceremony for the Relay for Life–a memory I will treasure for life.
Angie, you have been a joy to get to know! Your humour, enthusiasm, and cheerfulness in spite of cancer is inspiring. Thank you!
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