Toby is currently in a competition to get the most votes to win an amazing adventure. Please check out his awesome video below, read his guest blog and most importantly, please go and vote for him!
I met Josh for the first time a couple of months ago as we posed for a Trekstock Young Person's Network photoshoot (I’m the one in the Yellow!) and then again at Teenage Cancer Trust's Find Your Sense Of Tumour conference where I was performing my theatre show about my experience with cancer.
The one thing Josh and I worked out is that our experience of cancer was VERY similar. We'd both had Hodgkin's Lymphoma, both had relapsed, both underwent a Stem Cell Transplant and both had some of our treatment at UCLH - we even now have the same outpatient consultant!
I asked Josh if I could write a short guest blog as I came toward a BIG anniversary. I never had experience of writing blogs when I was being treated and after reading through a couple of friends' ones I can see what a fantastic way it is to explore and explain what is going on when someone is experiencing cancer.
So that BIG anniversary marks my 5 years in remission and, to those of you who may not know, that means you are OUT of remission. They're not allowed to say the C word but there is a chance you are C*red.
Like many cancer patients who have relapsed I have struggled with my day-to-day fear of lumps, bumps, coughs, sore throats, tiredness and headaches that could return me to relapsing.
It took a while but I realised we all have scars, and that its not about how those scars define us - it's how we wear them day-to-day that really defines us. How we move on from them, but accept them. I am not naive enough (unfortunately) to think that may be the end of my journey with cancer but it is a significant achievement to make it and I would like to celebrate, as all that experience it should.
Next year I would like to celebrate being OUT of remission in style by joining the Fjällräven Polar expedition, which is a 300 km long winter adventure across the Arctic tundra. This is a competition and I hope you all could help me, as Josh has himself, by voting for me here: http://www.fjallravenpolar.com/UserProfile/860
It's been one hell of a journey to get this far and I want to finish it off in style. I want to celebrate the feeling of being alive and feeling on top of the world (literally) by taking on an adventure that shows off this beautiful planet in all of its glory.
Thank you to Josh for letting me write this short guest blog and thank you to you all for reading it and voting. If you want to know more about my work check out www.tobypeach.co.uk.
Hi! I’m the 'star' of Livin' With Lymphoma. The blog was founded on the 31st October 2013, on the day I was diagnosed with Stage 4B Hodgkin's lymphoma. I hope you find it funny and informative.
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