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A courageous mom who has paved the way to defeat cancer in a heartfelt blog and has raised more than £ 36,000 for disease research is calling on Northerners to fight cancer.
Claire Rocks (39) has written moving messages and directed fun fundraising videos to help her and her family cope with the difficult surgery and life-saving treatments.
Today, a little over a year after the end of her treatment, she wears the Stand Up to Cancer bracelet to point out that a person in Northern Ireland – a person like her – is receiving a cancer diagnosis every hour.
This fierce statistic pushes mom devoted to supporting Stand Up to Cancer, a joint funding campaign of Cancer Research UK and Channel 4, supported by many celebrities including Davina McCall, Edith Bowman, Alan Carr and Kirsty Allsopp.
The statistician Claire, from Burren in Co Down, married to a plumber Mark (40) and a six-year-old girl, Beibhinn, knows from experience how research is important in the fight against cancer.
By sharing her experience, she hopes to bring everyone together to join the fight against the disease and help save more lives.
She says: "I am so grateful for the treatment that saved my life but unfortunately, there are other people in Northern Ireland who are starting this terrible journey after the diagnosis – 24 people in Ireland from North discover that they have cancer alone day.
"It's vital to raise money for research – it saves lives – it's as simple as that, which is why it's so important to do what you can for Stand Up to Cancer."
Claire was diagnosed with invasive third-grade breast cancer in January 2017 after experiencing breast pain, which is not a common symptom. The pain led her to find a mass.
She underwent a lumpectomy the same month and then underwent six cycles of chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy. During her chemotherapy, her immune system was so low that she had to be hospitalized with sepsis, a life-threatening infection.
Gravely ill, she spent more than a week in the hospital for treatment, before continuing her chemotherapy and then her radiotherapy.
She has slowly strengthened her strengths since her last radiation therapy session last August and feels well enough to prepare for her return to work at the NI Statistical and Research Agency next month.
Claire is passionate about raising awareness, which led her to publish her blog.
She says, "I started writing the blog for myself for everything out of my head.
"When you have a cancer diagnosis, you go directly to the Internet looking for stories of people who have been there to find out what to expect.
"I needed hope to know that I would survive and that I could not find anything online to help me. I realized that what I was writing I was not sure about. would have helped, that's why I decided to turn it into a blog.
"Awareness is so important, when you finish the treatment, people think you're done and you're not, people do not realize what it is and awareness is so important to help people understand, learn to trust your instincts, and raise money to try to find out why this happens to so many people. "
Her own cancer was unusually felt following a breast pain just before Christmas 2016. When she was sent for tests, she left alone because she did not think she could have cancer.
She explains: "I had just arrived at Christmas and I felt a pain in my chest, it was like a pain and I rubbed and felt a lump. About a week later I had an arm ache between my elbow and wrist and decided that I needed to go to the doctor.
"The pain is not usually associated with breast cancer and the consultant told me that the pain in my arm had nothing to do with it, but because of that I went to my GP and I said that there were at least some pre-cancerous cells but that I would need a biopsy, I got it two days later late and I had the results in a week, but I knew that I had cancer.
"I thought I had a cyst and the doctors could tell that the news was going to be a shock.
"I could not stand it As a statistician, I work with numbers to make a living, but it took me a long time to digest it when the consultant said I had 10% of chances of survival after 10 years.
"I thought he was telling me that there was an 80% chance that I would be dead in 10 years.That's how my brain got scrambled in everything that was happening.
"You're worried, is it just the chest or did it go away? And I thought about my girl and how I wanted to see her." grow."
Like many women, Claire found that losing her hair was a difficult part of her treatment, but instead of dwelling on her gradual loss, she decided to take control and asked her husband to shave off .
"I saw these clips in movies when the cancer victim was sobbing in front of the mirror as his hair was falling, my hair had started to come out in my hands like that but I thought," I'm not going to be this Then I had a drink in it, I asked my mother to join us and we all sat in the kitchen when Mark m shaved my head.
"Over time, I got used to my wig – and then she started to take a life of her own.First, my daughter wanted to try it, then I tried with Mark, then all my friends and my family.
"We started taking photos, which eventually allowed us to get a video that we posted on YouTube, and soon the joke started, so if you came to visit our house, you had to try the wig.
"When you're dealing with cancer, sometimes you feel that if you do not laugh, you'll cry, it certainly made us laugh."
Claire will be monitored regularly now that her treatment is over. She adds to her blog, www.rockuptocancer.weebly.com, a way to help others, and her fundraising mission continues while she supports Stand Up to Cancer.
She recently hosted a great fundraising day in her local community at the end of August, which has raised more than £ 36,000 so far for Cancer Action and Cancer Research.
"Whether you are giving out or organizing your own bake sale or whatever, there are many ways to participate, and I really hope that as many people as possible will support this campaign, together we can erase cancer," she says.
"I will be 40 years old in January and instead of dreading this anniversary like many women, I am ready to celebrate it, I am so grateful that my treatment has been a success and that I embrace everything that life throws at me . "
People in Northern Ireland are encouraged to take a stand now by asking for a free fundraiser pack filled with ideas to help fight cancer.
You can also show your support for the campaign in style as a range of fun clothing and accessories for men, women and children is now available online and at Cancer Research UK stores from late September.
Laura Davidson, spokesperson for Cancer Research UK for Northern Ireland, said: "We are very grateful to Claire for leading the charge against cancer and helping to recruit more people for this cause.
"The good news is that more people are surviving than ever before, but too many lives are still cut off.
"Every day, our scientists work tirelessly to overcome this devastating disease, but laboratory research will not help us get there.
"We need money to accelerate the breakthroughs of the petri dish in better treatments for patients.
"By supporting Stand Up to Cancer, people in Northern Ireland could help advance the day when all cancers will be cured," she says.
Funding of Clinical Trials and Special Projects
Stand Up to Cancer has raised £ 38 million since its launch in the UK in 2012. Funding is used for clinical trials and projects that accelerate the development of new cancer treatments and tests, help patients and save more lives.
This year, Stand Up to Cancer will end with a live television evening on Channel 4 on Friday, October 26th.
To participate, visit standuptocancer.org.uk.
Belfast Telegraph
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