I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in December 2005. I remember quite clearly my initial need for information about cancer. What the prognosis was, what the treatment options were, how long would the treatment be? etc, etc. All these questions related to the technical or clinical side of the disease. I was surprised and impressed by the amount and detail of this information that was available on the internet.

Once I was armed with all this info. and the course of the treatment was laid out for me I thought I was all ready to go. Then the human side of me kicked in and the fear began to grow. A large part of this was fear of the unknown. What was having chemotherapy really like, how bad would it really be, how long do the side affects actually last. On day 4 of my first treatment I was in despair. If it was going to be like this for 6 months then I was not sure if I could do it.

On top of all this there were some unexpected emotions, fear and anger ok, but what was all this guilt about? The problem was that I was well armed with the facts but very poorly armed with the human element of what it is like living with cancer. That’s what being a cancer Buddy is all about for me. Sharing the human side and lessening the fear of the unknown.