Hi I'm Sue from a Brain Tumour Charity
Mr H, following behind with the bags, piped up over my shoulder: yes Dawn had one.
So you are a survivor.
I told her I was delighted to see them there, dropped some money in her collection and carried on.
But those words, that title stayed with me!
I guess without surgery I would have died. They warned me there was a tiny chance I could die during the operation; they wrote it on the consent form. Risks.....Death.
Ten days later I remember opening my eyes after more surgery to remove a brain abscess (a complication of my tumour surgery) to see one of the lovely physiotherapists with tears in her eyes at the end of my bed.
I cried out I don't want to die...I haven't written a will.
So am I a human cat and have I used up three of my lives?
Before I wrote Brain Tumour Survivor on my twitter tagline I hesitated, but did it because Sue had called me one. I am not normally a sheep and Survivor was not a word I would have chosen to describe myself! So I stopped baaaa-ing and deleted the word. I don't see myself as an Epilepsy Survivor so why with the Brain Tumour?
Instead I have learnt to live with them and their consequences. They change my life but I still have a life. I am lucky.
But dealing with Breast Cancer brought death back into the room. Not because death was imminent, not even close, but because it comes holding hands with the word Cancer.
Once again I have looked Death in the eye. But I still have time to breath the air, watch the snowdrops peek through the soil and spend precious time with my true friends and family.
And swim. And sing....
Remember to...
Dance like there's nobody watching
Love like you'll never be hurt
Sing like there's nobody listening
and live like it's heaven on earth
William W. Purkey
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