I celebrated my two-year cancer-free milestone and I'm looking forward to the future

I tried to get on with my daily life, but the pain never eased.

In fact, it was getting worse by the day, to the point where the pain consumed me. Eventually, I was referred to the local children’s ward for tests, where my mum brought up the fact that no one had taken bloods the entire time I had been suffering.

I was given my first of many cannulas and was kept in overnight. The next morning my Mum and I were rushed by ambulance to the Schiehallion Ward - the children’s cancer ward - in Glasgow Super Hospital.

That’s when my mum received the devastating news that I had acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. I don’t remember much about when I was told, apart from the moment when I fully realised that I was extremely unwell and had an incredibly difficult journey ahead of me – I felt an overwhelming surge of anger that this was happening to me and my family.

I started chemotherapy immediately but had an extremely negative reaction to the drugs. After completing only three of the four weeks of treatment, complications started to arise. I was placed in an induced coma in intensive care before undergoing lifesaving surgery. The doctors had to look through at least 25 years of records to find a reaction like mine.

The operation was to repair my stomach, which had been extensively damaged by the chemotherapy – meaning that I now needed a stoma bag.

When I was finally brought out my coma, I woke up thinking it had been just one night’s sleep. I could not have been more wrong; I had lost two months of my life. All I could do was blink – I have had to work extremely hard to relearn everything again.

In August 2017, I went for a reversal operation of my stoma. Unfortunately, there were complications resulting in me being left with a fistula. I still have my fistula bag, but I have found a specialist who is confident that she can remove it in the near future in a two-part reversal surgery.

Unfortunately, my cancer journey still wasn’t over yet. In February 2019, when I was aged 17, I once again heard the news that everyone dreads, when I was told that I also had thyroid cancer. It was such a shock knowing I had not one but two totally different forms of cancer at such a young age.

I finished treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in July 2019, only to immediately begin treatment for thyroid cancer – which involved surgery to remove both my thyroid and the tumour.

After everything that both my body and the world had thrown at me, I never expected the water to settle.

There was always a huge wave coming that would drag me back under. But finally, in July 2019, I rang the “end of treatment” bell, which signalled the end of my treatment journey for both cancers.

I invited family, friends, and hospital staff to come and celebrate this momentous occasion with me. By the time everyone arrived, the ward was half full! It was one of the best days I have ever experienced, and I will never forget it.

I wrote a speech to thank every single person who had stood beside me and cared for me throughout my journey with cancer. They had saved my life! They are all heroes in my eyes. My heroes.

I am still relearning how to walk, and at the moment currently use a wheelchair. In December 2019, I walked for the first time unaided - which was a huge step in my rehabilitation. Slowly, I am getting my strength back. Cancer has definitely changed my life, in both good and bad ways. I have a new perspective on life and am so much more grateful for everything around me, but I have been left with both physical and mental scars.