Who's who; Susan

Susan is the lovely lady who sends out all our blankets with some help of her very kind husband Ricky.

I met Susan through Shelley, because we both had sarcomas, although different types of this rare cancer. I'll let Susan tell you about herself. 

"In May 2005 I was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma. Its a rare form of cancer that was in my fibula bone. I was pregnant when my husband noticed the lump, we went to the local walk in centre and was told it was nothing to worry about and sent home. 5 months later the lump had grown and we went back. We were told again it was nothing to worry about but i had high blood pressure so i needed to go to the hospital incase i had pre eclampsia, which i did have which was lucky because this is when the first person paid attention to the lump. I was induced early so they could take a biopsy of the lump. When my son was 2 weeks old i started my chemotherapy. Because its a rare form of cancer I had to have all my chemotherapy and radiotherapy in central London. I would stay in for 4 days having 4 different types of chemotherapy. The first day my husband had to leave me in hospital and took our son home was the hardest thing I've ever done. I lost my hair, I had my stem cells harvested, I had bone marrow taken from my back and had a pic line inserted. After 6 cycles of chemotherapy I had surgery to remove my fibula bone, nothing was put in its place. A tendon had to be severed to get the bone out leaving me with drop foot. I then found out the chemotherapy hadn't killed my tumor but i was very lucky my surgeon managed to get it all out, I then had 8 more cycles of chemotherapy to make sure nothing was left behind. I had 14 cycles of chemotherapy and was neutrapeanic 13 times, this means my blood count was 0 and i had no immune system and would need to stay in a clean room in hospital where all doctors, nurses and guests needed to wear aprons, masks and gloves when in the room so they didn't pass any germs on to me which could be fatal. Since i finished my treatment i have been going back to London for regular scan to see if the cancer has returned, so far I've been very fortunate to not have it return. Because its a rare form of cancer I've had to have scans for 10 years from when my treatment was finished April 2006. As long as everything goes well i will be having my last appointment April 2016. I've been left with some mobility problems, chronic pain and long term side effects from the chemotherapy which has prevented me returning to work as a florist but i really enjoy being part of the sent with love team. Susan ❤"