Sharing my story and the first steps to raising more awareness for bladder cancer

The first few weeks after being told I potentially had bladder cancer were the hardest. Going through investigative treatment, not knowing if the baby would be okay and the agonising wait for results were one thing, but the other was the feeling of being totally alone.

Like anyone my age I turned to the internet for answers, for information but mainly for support and advice from anyone who may have been going through something similar. I really struggled to find anything remotely close to my situation and it made me feel very alone.

As soon as I knew what we were dealing with I wanted to start my blog so I could share my story with as many people as possible, on the off chance that there were others out there like me, that might be going through this by themselves.

I found the Macmillan website so helpful when coming to terms with my diagnosis and there booklet on Early Bladder Cancer (which was given to me by my surgeon) was so useful not just for me but for my whole family when helping us understand what we were dealing with.

Very early on in the whole process I knew that I wanted to give something back and say thank you to them in any way I could. I decided that the best way I could do this at the time was to hold a Macmillan coffee morning for my baby shower, later this year! 

At this point I also started working with Macmillan to share my story and raise awareness for their Worlds Biggest Coffee Morning event, taking place this September. I am over the moon that today for the first time my story was featured in the national press: you can read it here!

I hope that this is the start of being able to raise more awareness for and get as many people talking about bladder cancer as possible. You can find out more information and the symptoms to watch out for on their website. 

 I also hope this encourages people to get involved and host their own Coffee Morning to raise as much money as they can for this amazing charity! 

Thanks for reading and please share with as many people as you can!

Katie xxx