Aren’t you a bit young to have a pacemaker

Stage 4 breast cancer with a pacemaker

Most people know someone with a pacemaker, and chances are that person will be elderly. The average age of a first pacemaker implantation in the UK is 72, but pacemakers are actually fitted in people of all ages from newborn babies to the very elderly. I was 39 when I had mine, which was needed as a complication after heart surgery to replace my aortic valve and root.

Press Release: METUPUK launches #IAmThe31 Campaign to Highlight Secondary Breast Cancer Day #BCAM

13th October is officially Secondary Breast Cancer day – the only day in Breast Cancer Awareness Month that officially recognises secondary (metastatic) breast cancer (download as PDF). And so, this

What’s in a name? Metastatic? Secondary? Advanced? Cancer #IAmThe31

Google Search for metastatic, secondary cancer

The terminology around cancer can be confusing, and no more so than for Stage IV cancer. The terms ‘secondary’, ‘advanced’ and ‘metastatic’ seem to be used fairly interchangeably, along with

Postcode Lotteries

What’s your postcode and what does that say about you? If I asked a healthy person about the importance of their postcode I suspect they’d tell me about local schools,

What’s so bad about fears and tears?

I’m 36 years old and I’m dying of secondary breast cancer. As a result I’m petrified 24/7. I’m currently waiting for scan results that will tell me if my current

Supportive Care

As a secondary breast cancer patient living with an incurable disease, I feel very strongly about wording.  Wording like fight, battle and lost/loosing.  Words matter. So, I also think that