There's Always Light at the End of the Tunnel

Cancer awareness is something I value highly as my mum passed away from cancer 9 years ago today when I was 10 years old after an 18 month long battle. Today I am writing about a woman who has defied the odds and is currently thriving, living life to the full, today I am writing to you to share the story of Heather Von St. James, and hopefully raise some awareness about mesothelioma, a cancer which is caused only by asbestos exposure and which is entirely a preventable cancer. Heather Von St. James is a rare mesothelioma cancer survivor who 8 years ago defied all odds when she was given just 15 months to live. 8 years ago, when her new daughter was only 3 months old Heather and her husband Cameron received the devastating news that Heather had cancer. A time of happiness and joy soon turned into something no family should ever have to experience, a time of fear, worry and thoughts of death. With treatment and life saving surgery which removed Heathers left lung she became a surv...

I recently began my medication reduction with the aim of coming off my antidepressants completely. This is a huge step for me and has been a long time coming. I was initially out on this medication just before I went into hospital in 2011 after my first antidepressants fails to help improve my mood. After going into hospital my medication was increased something, which happened quiet often, and a month or two after being discharged from hospital it was increased to the highest dose possible. So after spending almost three years on these meds I am absolute delighted to have finally begun my reduction with the support of my GP. Despite the sense of security my meds provided me for many years I have wanted to come off them for a while but all the doctors and nurses I have been seeing over the years always felt it wasn’t the right time, but then again is there ever a right time to come off medication. Not really sure if there is ever a good time to come off antidepressants now was a...

Something happened to me about a week and a half ago, something which I never expected to happen and something which was really out of the blue, about a week and a half ago a family member from my mothers side made contact with me. I know you may be thinking what is so surprising about that but you have to understand that my interaction with my mothers side of the family decreased incredibly after her death. A week and a half ago I received a friend request of Facebook from my godmother who also happens to be one of my mums cousins. Now initially I wasn't sure who the person was as a result of the change in last name but after a few moments it clicked with me who she was. Now I'm not great with building relationships and it is something which I have spent a lot of time working on both personally and professionally as a result of the nature of youth work but again it is still something which I can often struggle with. When accepting this friend request I didn't think anyt...