I finally got from my BC life to my AC life (before and after) by attending a support group that dealt with the emotional and psychological fall-out after diagnosis and treatment.  However, before I could get to my new life I had to wade through a swamp of grief, anger, fear, loss and a whole lot of other 'sucky' stuff before I eventually got through to the other side and back onto dry land.

That truly awful time lasted about a year after my treatment had finished and I was waved off by my medical team.  However, since then I've gone on to study and qualify as a counsellor; I’ve become a civil marriage celebrant; I’ve written and published a book about my cancer journey and beyond, plus a short fiction book; and I’m a motivational speaker.

One of the things that got me through the darkest times was writing.  I'd always written as a teenager but stopped for various reasons and it was rediscovering my creativity that eventually got me motivated and restored my self-confidence.  I wrote a lot of poetry during my personal annus horribilius then enrolled in some creative writing courses and eventually a novel writing course.  The novel is still a work in progress but I’ll get there!