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Home > About childhood cancer > Online Community > Your stories >Member Details
Name:
festa
User type:
Survivor
Member Stories
Empowerment
I was 14 when was diagnosed with a Ewing's Sarcoma on my chest after six months of visiting my GP. During this period I was thought have, Asthma that had re-occurred in adolescence, scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and costocondritis (inflammation of the muscles between the ribs. Still convinced it was Asthma, my GP referred me to an Asthma consultant. He listened to my chest and straight away sent me for some x-rays, which revealed that I had a tumour the size of a rugby ball on the right side of my chest.
Initially, I wasn't told that this was cancerous. The same day I was referred to the oncology ward at Pendlebury Hospital. I knew from seeing my x-rays that it had to be cancer. Then the journey really began and I had a week of diagnostic tests and preparation for treatment. My treatment involved six phases of intensive chemotherapy, major surgery to remove the tumour along with three ribs and a third of my lung, eight milder phases of chemotherapy and finally twelve days of radiotherapy.
I've now been in remission for six years and had the all clear two years ago. The most important thing that I have taken from my experiences is that sometimes we cannot choose what life throws at us but we can all be positive and make the most of what we've got. In my case this has changed the direction of my life completely, as I'm currently training to be a learning disability nurse and doing all I can to empower others.