A challenging couple of weeks - guest blog from Amanda's Dad

It seems quite a long time since I did an article for Amanda and Deb’s Breast Cancer Tips so here goes... 

Amanda seemed to be going along very well following her miraculous change from ‘terminal’ medical status to ‘secondary’; ‘terminal’ is a frightening category to be in. We’d got through Christmas, our first without Amanda’s mother, and another without Amanda’s sister Stephanie - definitely not easy. However, a few weeks ago we attended a night match at the football and Amanda had to stop and rest due to sharp pain in her chest. I was obviously extremely concerned. She said that she’d being experiencing these pains almost daily but it was nothing to worry about. I tried to put the occurrence to the back of my mind, but it was constantly there however hard I tried to block it out.

Amanda and Dean then went away to Spain for a few weeks' holiday and we 'Facetimed' most days. Every time I tentatively enquired about how she was feeling, and if the chest pain was still there, she said that she was fine. She mustn’t have been fine because she had made an appointment with her GP on her return from holiday. The GP said that an immediate X-ray was necessary, and the X-ray highlighted a ‘cluster’ on her lungs – we all were devastated and feared the worst. Amanda in particular was very concerned and we decided to 'go private' to get a lung scan done and a diagnosis from a specialist to speed up the process. A routine brain scan was also scheduled for around the same time as the lung scan, thus heightening the worry. 

We then had to see two consultants on consecutive days for results. We were expecting the worst but miraculously both the brain scan and lung scan came through as cancer free! The chest pain had been caused by the extreme radiotherapy that Amanda had received during her breast cancer treatment, and the ‘cluster’ was the result of a viral lung infection. A lot of people had been praying for Amanda, she’s incredibly popular, and the support that we had as a family was absolutely immense. 

I guess that it is only natural to worry about every pain that Amanda has after having three cancers in three years, but this was tortuous. I feel that God definitely has a purpose for Amanda as even the oncologist was surprised (in a very nice way) that she is still with us after facing such an aggressive strain of cancer.  I hope and pray with all my heart that we have now turned the corner and that Amanda can go on to lead a normal healthy life. The signs seem unexpectedly good (we don’t like using the word ‘positive’), and my biggest prayer is for Amanda to outlive me. 

The message is to never to give up hope, even when the future can look incredibly daunting. Concentrated prayer can be so powerful, and the support of family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues makes the world of difference; it really has to me. 

I sincerely hope that this blog can be of some help and encouragement to someone living with similar anxiety.

Amanda’s Dad