I have completed many chapters of my new book which is about my cancer journey and how I have lived a happy and successful life since the diagnosis way back in 1992. I will be releasing small extracts from the book in this blog and I hope you enjoy reading them. I have as yet not settled on a title and this part of the process seems to be much harder than writing the actual book which is in its final reading stage.
Here is a small extract from the first chapter and to put you in the picture, the story so far – I had moved to Spain to live, found a small lump in my breast in the September and had been told by a consultant there was nothing to worry about. Then a doctor friend of mine came to visit. I asked him to examined me (in a purely professional way) as I had found lumps under my arm and he recommended I visit another doctor within the Spanish system to get a second opinion.
Chapter 1 – I Am Scared EXTRACT
On the 22nd December, after finding that the lumps had increased in size, I remembered that I should make an appointment with another doctor. I went to see an English doctor (who was charming as well as good looking) in San Pedro De Alcántara (picture of surgery entrance). He briefly

examined me and immediately arranged an appointment with a specialist in a Gibraltar hospital for the following day. Pete (my boyfriend; previously introduced in the chapter) had arrived from the UK and my girlfriend had driven from her home in Portugal, so we decided to make the trip to Gibraltar a last minute Christmas shop and off we went. On arriving in Gibraltar they both offered to come with me to the hospital but because I did not consider this visit to be of any significance I told them to go about their shopping and arranged to meet them two hours later outside of the Marks and Spencer shop (yes they do have one in Gibraltar). I had calculated a couple of hours because I thought the hospital visit would only be about 30 minutes and when it was over, I could do my last minute Christmas shopping.
Upon my arrival at the hospital I was examined by a young boy! Well he looked like a young boy! I was 39 years old. After the examination he said that I had malignant growths in my breast and underarm and he wanted to do the operation during the next available surgery slot which was on the 29th December. He also said that I needed chemotherapy treatment and I would have to go to the UK for this as the Gibraltar Hospital did not offer a chemotherapy service. He gave me some contact numbers and in a daze I found myself out on the street completely bemused and befuddled.
I remember confusing the words malignant with benign and thinking I was okay. I had conveniently forgotten the bit about chemotherapy. I now call this form of forgetting, “Hospital amnesia” which I will be describing to you later in the book. I will also give you some really good tips on how to remember what is said when you are in the hospital. Very useful, I can assure you. Anyway, back to the story. So I was confused between malignant and benign and to be absolutely sure, I went into a newsagents shop and found an English dictionary and looked up the word malignant, which said:
Imminent death!
End of Extract
I know this might sound or read like a horror story and I can assure you that throughout the book there are some very funny situations I found myself in and as most of my readers will know, I am now an international bestselling author, coach and founder of a life coach training company, a very positive outcome as a direct result of being diagnosed with terminal cancer. The book takes the reader on the journey from the start and includes tips and techniques I used to heal myself and the daily dozen things I do to keep healthy. Further extract to come and I would be happy to receive feedback.