Paul's page

Howdy doody. Hi, my name's Paul I’m 20 years old, and I was diagnosed with (ALL) acute lymphoblastic leukemia and I’ve been clear now for a year and a half.

I’m currently working full-time in a retail store whilst training to be a youth worker. I love playing rugby, rock climbing, going out to town with the boys and just generally having a good time.

When I got told that I had cancer I immediately thought that my life was over. I thought that I would have to give everything up sports-wise. I thought that my social life was over and I just thought life as I knew it was over. Lttle did I know that it was only the beginning of something new.

I soon found out that having cancer did not make my life as bad as I thought. I managed to keep my social life. Yes, I had to give up most of my more contact sports because I could not physically keep up anymore because my fitness suffered, but I very quickly found activities to replace them. I started training to be a youth worker and I got invited on lots of very cool trips through the hospital, thanks to the hospital staff and my very cool youth worker Hugh (who I got into the youth work through).

When I’m fully trained I would love to be a TCT youth worker so I could help the next set of people through their treatment and the issues they have during treatment. I have made a lot of very cool friends while at the hospital who I still keep in touch with - Hugh is one of my best buddies now.