My Cancer Rollercoaster

Kate Butler is a 42-year-old woman with incurable cancer. She writes a regular blog and, every Tuesday, we will feature her column.

Hi guys, I’m Kate. Welcome to my new weekly column all about my life living with incurable breast cancer at just 42 years old.

“What??” I hear you cry? That sounds a bit doom and gloom. Well, I can’t guarantee it will be all laughter and smiles, but they both certainly form a huge part of my life, and I want to share with you the rollercoaster of ups and downs that I will always be riding.

I want to ‘normalise’ discussions about cancer.

This means demystifying the treatments I go through; explaining the mental and psychological impact that such a diagnosis can bring and showing how it can create new relationships and grow existing ones.

I mean, according to Cancer Research, one in two of us born after 1960 will get it at some point so it has to become part of our vocabulary.

The ‘Big C’ as it’s often known, is something that people are understandably afraid of, and so was I.

However although I am a “person with cancer”, it doesn’t define who I am. I am still ‘me’, but with some additional nasty cancer cells (and a sense of humour to boot).

Just because I live with a terminal illness it doesn’t stop me from ‘living’ (well, apart from when chemotherapy slaps me around the face like a wet fish and leaves me floored for a few days).

There are highs, speaking in front of 1,600 people for Breast Cancer Care and taking to the runway as a fashion model, and there are lows, like when I had to have cement injected into my spine because cancer had made it unstable. Ouch.

So welcome to my column, I hope there will be something for everyone, whether you know someone with cancer or are going through it yourself.

As the Worcestershire Breast Unit Haven charity slogan says: ‘Everybody Knows Somebody’.

If you’re up for the journey then strap yourself in, hold tight, and join me as we navigate the twists and turns of life.

I look forward to seeing you next Tuesday.

Kate. xx

You can follow me on Instagram @mrs_b_jr and @chemo_head, Facebook and Twitter search for Breast Unit Events and my blog

https://secretlifeofa40yearold.blogspot.com

Worcestershire Breast Unit Haven: worcsbreastunithaven.com