Wednesday 26 November 2014

Find Your Sense Of Tumour

After returning from such an amazing weekend at center parcs with the teenage cancer trust charity for the Find Your Sense Of Tumour conference I just couldn't wait to blog about how interesting and brilliant the weekend was. Where do I start.....
Well before I go on about what I done I will explain a bit about the conference for those who are thinking what the hell... So the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) is a UK charity who support young people with cancer. I wasn't been hugely involved with them during my cancer and treatment and the only reason to this is because I was treated on an adults ward in Derriford and they unfortunately do not have a TCT ward...well this is Plymouth! I was given their website to look at while I was in hospital so knew of the charity and the amazing things they do. Luckily a year after my treatment at one of my CLIC Sargent socials I met Pete and he introduced me to TCT, I was put in touch with Vicky who is a TCT worker in Bristol and since then I have been to events and socials with some of the Bristol patients which has been brilliant. I was then invited to the FYSOT conference in center parcs and unfortunately I wasn't feeling well enough to go last year so this year I thought bugger it and signed up to attend. 

FYSOT
I went to the Center parcs in Nottingham and traveled by train. I met some lovely people on the train who I would be spending the weekend with. One of the main things I love to do now I am post cancer is meet other patients to talk and feel inspired by their stories. After a very long journey we eventually arrived at Center parcs. It is such a beautiful, magical place! It was decorated in a winter wonderland theme which was even better as I love Christmas. For those who are unaware what center parcs is, it is a holiday park in the middle of a huge forest with a lot of log cabins. They have a lot of adventure sports holiday makers can attend but we were there for the conference. We could attend the activities if we wanted to but it was such a busy fun filled weekend we didn't have much time to. The weekend consisted of a huge conference where a lot of cancer patients and TCT workers got together to talk about cancer...everything about cancer. Side effects, Fertility, Relationships, Work....you name it, they covered everything.I found listening everyone's different stories so interesting. 
The food was yummy and the discos were a blast. There was a disco with music every evening where we could have a dance and drink of course. I let go on the first night as you do then after that I felt so shattered. The Friday night was a winter wonderland themed disco and I was only told the day before that it was fancy dress so I ran to Tesco (not literally) and picked up some Christmas earring's and a light up badge, I also wore my Christmas jumper...that was the best I could do last minute. If I knew sooner I would of gone all out there as I love fancy dress, who doesn't? 
We also were lucky to have complementary therapies such as a massage, reflexology and acupuncture. I chose to have a back massage and flipping hell it was bloody amazing! I have never had a back massage before and my back felt so much better after. I have always suffered with a bad back even before all the cancer crap and I am definitely going to have one more often. 
I made some great friendships. The girls I stayed with were so lovely, we all connected and bonded and by the end of the weekend it was like we had known each other for years. They live not to far from me to we will definitely be having a reunion sometime soon! I also reunited with friends I had met on previous trips like the Ellen MacArthur Sailing Trip and Malcolm Sargent House
Yes having cancer was absolutely awful and the worst time of my life but now looking back on what I have achieved and experienced since then has been amazing! I would never have had the opportunity to go on these amazing trips and meet so many amazing people. I feel blessed! Thank you so much,  Teenage Cancer Trust and everyone who helped run and organise the Find Your Sense Of Tumour event. I am looking forward to returning next year!
Now, I am going to bombard this post with lots of FYSOT photos:


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