Jan's Journey

Let’s start at the very beginning. . .

In 2001, much to my complete and utter shock I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Breast Cancer, one lump 4cm on the right breast and a second 1cm one under the arm in the lymph nodes. I was told to expect chemotherapy, a mastectomy, radiotherapy and last but not least, tamoxifen (aah my favourite!)

That first day when I was at the hospital there was another lady obviously being given the same news, and I decided to find out who she was and see if she’d like to get together. Well, from then on we became firm friends, spending almost every day on the phone to each other comparing notes, laughing and crying together and even experiencing exactly the same treatments on the same days! It was so wonderful having somebody who understood all the ins and outs of the treatments, the side effects, the angst, and how it felt physically and emotionally living through it.

Jan

I had a brilliant backup system with my wonderfully supportive friends and family, but I know not everyone is so lucky. I decided when I had finished my treatment and begun to feel human again, to give something back. I joined my local Cancer Support Group – the South East Cancer Help Centre (SECHC) who became my lifeblood! Full of wonderful people, all ages, backgrounds, male and female, users, friends and relatives. They were so supportive and had such an active community – I made some dear friends there, even did some things I never thought I’d see myself doing like appearing on stage in pantomime at our local theatre!

Life has sure changed beyond all recognition – I’d been given a new start, a chance to make a difference and give back some of the love and support that I had received. I discovered that the little things aren’t of such great importance, it’s the whole picture that matters. To live each day to the fullest – my new motto ‘carpe diem’, live for the day, and to tell those around you as often as you can how much you love them as you never know what’s around the corner, and I think it’s something that’s just never said enough.

I became involved with raising money for Cancer Backup and also my own Cancer Centre. I went to user groups to give patient/user input at meetings at the SECHC and began attending conferences through Cancer Voices which is run by Macmillan Cancer Support. I spoke to newly diagnosed people who were put in touch with me through the cancer centre, through friends, through Macmillan and through friends and relatives as I wanted to help them through their own experiences and give them as much support as I could.

In the autumn of 2003, I started Janie’s Jewels which was an MSN website dedicated to all those who have experienced cancer in any way, shape or form, to get together and chat and give each other support, to laugh and cry and have some fun too – but still I wasn’t reaching enough people.

Jan

I was attending a Cancer Voices Conference in the London Docklands Hilton at the end of 2003 and meeting some lovely people, one of whom had a profound effect on me – she ran the Cancer Helpline for Macmillan Cancer Support. We hit it off immediately and we kept in touch. I sincerely think fate was lending a hand that day! I was telling her how I wanted to help more people and asked her to keep me in mind if there was anything I could do for the telephone helpline they ran. I sat listening at the workshops I attended that afternoon and so many things were buzzing around my head, I was thinking of my website and of the Macmillan helpline and began wondering if there was a dedicated website to bring together people with similar cancer experiences on a much larger scale.

That night lying in bed being unable to sleep, it hit me! I would start a Cancer Buddies Network – I would be able to reach millions on the worldwide web and by the use of a search engine built into the website, they would be able to find someone on our database who was living through the same experience as them for support, friendship and encouragement. Goodness, hadn’t somebody already thought of this?

The very next day I made contact with my friend to run it by her, and she was so enthusiastic she said she would make enquiries at Macmillan and get some feedback. Well, that was it basically, the rest is history! I had a wonderful meeting up at the Macmillan offices and they were so supportive I really felt that I could make a go of this. My daughter and a dear friend decided to come on board and help set the whole thing up.

Jan

Next came the prospect of raising some capital to fund this project as a simple free website wasn’t going to be able to cope with what I had in mind. Again Macmillan were there to help – they told us about their grant schemes and suggested we make an application. We went ahead and received our first grant from them in January 2005 and then made a further application to Millennium Grants UnLtd and were thrilled when they also decided to give us their backing. We approached a Web Design Company with our idea and they were also so enthusiastic that they said they would build us a website as economically as was humanly possible – hence the grants that we needed to help pay for it.

And if you’re still here with me – that is the story so far! All we need now is YOUR help to spread the word as far and wide as possible – just think how many people we can reach through this website! Please tell all your family and friends, local hospitals, cancer hospitals, local doctors practices, nurses, press, radio, TV, libraries, celebrity friends, cancer websites, search engines, anyone you can think of so that we can fulfil this dream of uniting anyone who has experienced cancer around the world with each other! You may even discover someone living round the corner who has had exactly the same experience as you that you never knew existed!

Bless you for joining us and living our dream with us. Please take care of yourselves and pass the good news of all the love and support we offer here at CBN, as far and wide as you can.