Your StoriesYou are in: Essex > People > Your Stories > Chemotherapy, Cakes and Cancer - Megan's guide to childhood cancer  Megan working on her book Chemotherapy, Cakes and Cancer - Megan's guide to childhood cancerMegan Blunt from Billericay, is a 15-year-old cancer survivor, and has been so moved by her experiences that she has written a guide to help other children cope with the same illness. She answers our questions about her story. - Q: Why did you decide to write a book about living with cancer?
- A: Because there was little information about cancer aimed at children aged 10+. There were books aimed at very young children and information for adults but nothing for older children. I also wanted to share some tips that I had picked up during the course of my treatment e.g. where the best place to buy wigs was, how to slow down mouth ulcers and what to eat when you had horrific mouth ulcers! My inspiration for getting my book finished and off to a publisher came about in August when my friend Nathaniel died from the same cancer I had suffered. I wanted to do something in his honour because I had been given a chance to live.
- Q: How will your book help other young people?
- A: Hopefully my book will help other young people as it contains hints, tips and easy definitions of some of the long technical medical words. I hope that my book can be used as a reference book on how to survive cancer. It’s good to read something positive when you first get diagnosed!
- Q: Why do you think there was such little information around for teenagers and children with cancer?
- A: The assumption has been in the past that parents need to know the information and in turn explain to their children. But I felt more in control of what was happening if I could read information myself, or if the doctors spoke to me directly.
- Q: How did you feel when you were first diagnosed with cancer?
- A: Surprisingly calm. I was told I had a tumour, and being 12 years old, decided that treating it would be simple. Based on my knowledge from vet programmes I assumed I would have an operation to take out the tumour and that would be that. It was when I was told I would have to have chemotherapy that I became upset. All I knew about this was that chemo’ made you loose your hair and I didn’t want to be bald!
- Q: How did it affect you?
- A: Physically I lost all my hair within a few weeks, a few toe nails, felt very sick sometimes, lost my mobility for a few months after I had surgery to remove my tumour and had horrific mouth ulcers for 10 days each cycle of treatment. (The ulcers would be so bad I couldn’t talk, and struggled to chew anything). I also struggled to keep in contact with my friends at school, although I did manager three to four lessons every five weeks. On the plus side my finger nails strengthened and looked like I had had them professionally French manicured! I also became a lot closer to my family (I never argued with my sisters on treatment), learnt to appreciate little things like sleeping in my own bed, and being together as a family and just watching TV. I also made new friends and reassessed my priorities (exams no longer seem such a major thing, but being able to walk does!)
- Q: Who and what was your inspiration to get better?
- A: God and the fact I wanted to go back to a “normal life” as quickly as possible. Also, I like being successful and so I wanted to prove that children can have cancer and get better- everyone looked so sad and shocked when I first told them what was wrong. Having my “wish” granted by the Make-a-wish foundation was a point to aim towards as well.
- Q: How do you picture your future now?
- A: I feel I have been given a chance to live and hope that I can show people that cancer doesn’t always have to be such a bad and sad thing and that I can support others who have cancer. Knowing that someone of your age has had cancer and got through it is always nice to discover, especially at the beginning of your treatment when you don’t know what your future might hold.
- Q: What would your advice be to any young people reading this who have just found out they have got cancer?
- A: Four things: 1) Stay positive- staying positive can make a huge difference. If you are positive your body does seem to cope better! 2) Don’t ask yourself unanswerable questions – it is pointless to ask yourself why you got cancer, because even the experts aren’t entirely sure! 3) Don’t research the type of cancer you have on the internet; it is normally only the scary and upsetting stories that are published there. Sites run by your hospital or cancer charities like CLIC Sargent website can be helpful (I have also listed a few useful and fun websites about cancer in my book under “W is for websites”!) 4) Take one day at a time, try and aim to do one nice thing you enjoy each day, (For me this was shopping!!) Even if you just plan to eat something you enjoy, it can help you feel positive.
- Q: Where can people get a copy of the book?
- A: For information about how to obtain a free copy of Chemotherapy, Cakes and Cancer call the Child Cancer Helpline on 0800 197 0068 or log on to the CLIC Sargent website: www.clicsargent.org.uk
last updated: 09/04/2008 at 11:15
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