My Unsung Hero of the Month: Kayleigh Canning

Hero of the Month: 

Name: Kayleigh Canning
Age: 20
Cancer: Ovarian Cancer


Why is she my hero?

Kayleigh is my hero because when she faced terrible life problems one after the other she never gave-up hope, she is proof that what doesn't kill you really does make you stronger!


The life of Kayleigh Canning:

My parents decided to adopt myself and my two
brothers for reasons I won’t get into (that’s a whole new blog) they seen something in us and went all out and adopted all 3 of us so they wouldn't break me and my brothers apart and to be very frank we were past the cute adoption age. I never ever looked back they brought us up in a safe environment . We traveled Europe as as family went over the the states. Most of all they gave us the love and attention that we needed. 
At 17 years old and only a few days away from completing my first year at college life could not be sweeter. I was enjoying every moment! Making new friends and new memories and finally feeling that my life was on the right tracks.

Life changing:  Then out of the blue life as I knew it changed forever just 7 days before completing my first year at college my mum was diagnosed with stage 4 womb cancer. We had no time to dwell in pity because everything was moving so fast. My mum started intense chemo and became ill very quickly. As a family we all pitched in to help in anyway possible and put on a brave face for my mum. 

However, one day I came home from college I had the worst headache and a very swollen stomach. I informed my mum and dad that I was going to straight to bed. I stayed there all night in the dark till about 10pm when my mum came in. She lay on my bed with me and told me that she didn’t think I was looking to good. She begged me to go to the doctors the next day. I told her it was just a little headache I will be fine but to put her mind to rest I said I would go see my GP. 

I sat on the doctors bed telling him about my sore head and swollen stomach he asked me to lay down so he could examine my stomach. He had a feel of my stomach and asked if I was pregnant. So after finally convincing the Dr that I was not pregnant he took some blood and booked me in for an emergency scan the next morning.

The next day I was finally seen by a doctor. He hooked me up to the ultrasound machine. After a quick scan of my stomach he said "I need to get the specialist." At this point I was beginning to get a bit worried … What if there was actually something wrong with me ? I was called back into the room. Me and my mum sat down she was holding my hand. The Dr simply said "I don’t know how to really put this but you have a tumour" I was In shock. 

What next? 

I was informed my tumour was indeed cancerous. – A rare form of ovarian cancer.My world crumbled how could me and my mum have cancer at the same time ! I didn't know how to break the news to my mum so I asked my sister who was driving her home to do it for me. I was waiting at the door for my mum to come home. When she opened that door and our eyes met was the worst moment in my life. I will never forget the hurt that was in her eyes. We both crumbled into a big emotional mess.

I decided that there could only be one outcome and that was me being strong, brave and a surviving! 

After my first operation I was so overwhelmed, and I looked so sick. Then the best thing happened, I was introduced to The Teenage Cancer Trust, where I got to meet people my age with cancer. I really needed this support to help me get through cancer.  I decided not to have chemo but other treatments instead, I felt this gave me the most time to spend with my mum. 

Losing my Mum: 

Me and Mum

The doctors told me I was in remission, I was happy to be back on my way to health: cancer free. But I started to get symptoms again so I went back to the doctors and sadly found out that my cancer had come back. However, this wasn't the reason that day was the worst day of my life. This was the same day my mum passed away. As I spoke to her the last time I didn't tell her my cancer had come back: I couldn't! 

It came to Christmas time, I had lost my mum and had 4 surgeries, including a full hysterectomy. It was an awful Christmas. I was so lucky to have my family and friends to support me, along with everyone from the Teenage Cancer Trust. 

Being strong: 
Thankfully I am now cancer free again, i'm two years in remission. I have a new lease for life, and I enjoy every moment.  

Me and Kayleigh now

Unsung Hero of the month: 

I'm sure you can now see why this amazing girl is my unsung hero of the month. She is one of my best friends, and she helped me through my own cancer. We've been through a lot together, and i'm so happy to have someone so strong and inspiring in my life.
She remained strong through being an orphan, losing her mum to cancer, and being diagnosed with cancer twice herself.











Thank you for reading this, post.
I will be posting once a month about my unsung heroes.
Please check out my other blog posts, and catch me both on twitter and Facebook:

https://twitter.com/RemissionAblog

https://www.facebook.com/remissionaccomplishedblog

Not all cancer is pink- your anus: no laughing matter!

Not all cancer is Pink: 

As an outcome of my latest blog "not all cancer is pink: thinking outside of the bra" I have decided to write a blog post raising awareness of each different type of cancer (alphabetically). First have a read of that last blog post here: http://littlemisssurvivor93.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/not-all-cancer-is-pink-thinking-outside.html 

The first cancer on the list is anal cancer. The anus is the butt of a lot of jokes (excuse the pun) but anal cancer is not a joke. Around 1000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year in the UK (Macmillan cancer support). 


What is your anus:

I'm sure you will all know, but if not:  The anus is the name for the muscular opening to the very end of the large bowel. It can be seen below: 

The Signs and Symptoms:

• bleeding from the anus 
• pain, discomfort and itching around anus 
• lumps around the anus (could be confused with hemorrhoids) 
• difficulty controlling bowel movements 
• discharge 
• ulsters that can even spread to the buttocks   

Causes and possible risk factors

Human papilloma virus (HPV): 
this cancer is more likely to happen to those who have contracted the virus HPV


Sexual activity: 
people who have anal intercourse are more likely to develop this type of cancer

Lowered immunity: 
people who have a lowered immunity due to conditions like HIV or who are taking immunity suppressors are more likely to be diagnosed with this cancer

Smoking: 
those who smoke are at a higher risk of developing anal cancer


Real life story:

To help you all better understand what living with an anal cancer diagnosis is likeI have included this video of a real life anal cancer patient.


Name:  Tania

Age:  43

Cancer type:  Anal

Something that makes her brilliant: 
She named her anal cancer blog "A bum deal"
http://abumdeal.blogspot.co.uk/



What colour is anal cancer: 

In the post that started this all off I mentioned that most people don't know the support colours for different types of cancer. Sure everyone knows Pink= breast cancer. However do you know the colour of the anal cancer ribbons?

The colour of anal cancer is Purple and Green, and i'd be happy to wear it to show my support!






Thank you for reading this: the next "Not all cancer is pink" update will be about cancer of the bile duct. Do you know the colour of that cancer? 


Amy x 

Not all cancer is pink: thinking outside the bra.

Seeing pink? 

Awareness and funds in recent years have meant massive leaps in research for breast cancer. This is amazing news as so many lives have been saved as a result. This awareness is in no small part related to the "pink" campaign. Everyone knows that a pink ribbon is meant for breast cancer awareness, but do you know the colour of the bowel cancer ribbon, or the brain cancer ribbon, or any other ribbons for that matter? 

I have raised money for breast cancer awareness in the past and I will always give money to these campaigns. However, I think that it is about time that we remember that not all cancer is pink! 

Statistics 

It is true that the incidence rate of people being diagnosed with breast cancer is high in the UK compared to many other cancers, in fact overall (as of 2011) breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK (Cancer Research UK). Despite this fact breast cancer does not cause the most deaths of cancer each year: several others (including lung and bowel cancer) are ahead in mortality statistics. 

Relating back to what I said earlier, most people in the UK that die of cancer die of lung cancer, but did you know the lung cancer ribbon is white? My guess is you didn't know that. 

I want to raise awareness of all cancers, however right now I am going to focus on my cancer: ovarian cancer compared to breast cancer. Ovarian cancer is often known as a "silent killer" among cancers. This is because most people who are diagnosed with this type of cancer are diagnosed too late to be cured. This is due to a number of reasons; a lack of knowledge of symptoms, the fact the symptoms are so similar to many other conditions, and because cancer in the ovaries is hard to spot. 

In 2011 there were 49,936 cases of breast cancer diagnosed, 7116 cases of ovarian cancer diagnosed in the UK. 

You may wonder why I am even comparing the two as there are clearly a lot more cases of breast cancer than ovarian. However, what concerns me is the percentage of deaths of these cancers each year (Cancer Research UK). 

Of the 49,936 people diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, 11,643 died. However of the 7116 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer, 4271 of them died. 

This means 14% of those diagnosed with breast cancer died, whereas 47% of those diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year died (cancer statistics report). 

In addition: the 10 year survival rate of breast cancer in the UK is 77% of those diagnosed. This is a huge difference from the 35% 10 year survival rate of ovarian cancer patients in the UK. 

So it's clear that you are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer that ovarian cancer, however you are a lot more likely to die from ovarian cancer if diagnosed. 

This horrible difference between these two cancers is highly attributed to the fact the breast cancer awareness is very high, therefore the money donated to this cause and research is much higher than of ovarian cancer. This is clearly seen from this Cancer Research UK table: 

The research funding for different cancer types in the UK:

          

We can clearly see that ovarian cancer gets 6% of the research funding for cancer in the UK, whereas breast cancer gets the most funding at 19%. 

It is great to know the amazing advancement that we have made in treating breast cancer due to public awareness, donations, and therefore research. However it is sad to see a lack of this for many other cancers, including ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is the 5th most common cancer in women, and is responsible for a high percentage of cancer deaths compared to many other cancers. 

Do you know the ovarian cancer ribbon colour? It is a teal ribbon. Even though I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer I had no idea for months that this was the ribbon for my type. When people think cancer they see pink. Why can't they see teal (ovarian), or white (lung), or purple (thyroid) or green (kidney)? Sadly, because they don't know enough about these cancers until it is too late.    

This is why I feel strongly about raising awareness of other cancers, and trying to demonstrate that not all cancer is pink: we really must think outside the bra! This is why once a month I am now going to include a blog post about a different type of cancer each time. 

If there are any types of cancer that you'd really like me to post about just let me know. 

Here is a list of references I used: 

survival rates ovarian cancer: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/types/ovary/survival/ovarian-cancer-survival-statistics 

survival rates breast cancer: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/types/breast/survival/breast-cancer-survival-statistics 

Cancer mortality UK: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/types/breast/survival/breast-cancer-survival-statistics 

Cancer incidence UK: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/incidence/commoncancers/uk-cancer-incidence-statistics-for-common-cancers 

Cancer statistics report 2012: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/incidence/commoncancers/uk-cancer-incidence-statistics-for-common-cancers 

Thank you for reading, Amy x