A Personal Story
A year ago, one of my closest friends, a vibrant 46-year-old mother of three, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia. Only a few weeks before I had been teaching her Barre.
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We had celebrated her son’s Bar Mitzvah the weekend before we were all thrown into the bizarre world of Covid and our first lockdown in the UK. I was dealing with the emotion of closing my studio doors and focusing on the transition to online teaching to keep my business going. Meanwhile I was getting texts from my friend saying that she wasn’t recovering from a tooth abscess and was feeling steadily worse.
She was eventually admitted to Barnet hospital. A day later, on the 15th April 2020, she called me to tell me the devastating news. Within hours she was taken to University College London Hospital to receive treatment. But due to the pandemic, she was alone. Family and friends were not allowed to see her, nor was the counsellor that would normally have been made available to her. Her husband joked that at least he had stopped worrying about Covid.
Over 7 months she battled through 5 rounds of chemotherapy. The resilience she demonstrated throughout as well as the grace and gratitude she showed to everyone throughout her treatment was inspirational. In the initial stages she was able to have some breaks at home between treatments, until she entered the last 2 more invasive cycles.
The Cotton Rooms
At this point, she was required to stay at The Cotton Rooms – a purpose built hotel for patients undergoing chemotherapy, built and funded by the UCLH charity. On her first day at The Cotton Rooms, she was allowed to walk up Tottenham Court Road and she shopped in Primark, buying gifts for my girls, undeterred by having to carry a Chemo bag around with her.
She was relieved to be in the hotel rather than on the ward, but knew she would have to leave and receive her treatment in the hospital if she developed a fever. Hospitalisation meant being confined to a room with no opening windows for up to a month at a time.
On one occasion, I had the privilege of being her chosen companion, and stayed overnight with her at the hotel. We pretended we were on a spa weekend and dined out in style on Charlotte Street thanks to Rishi’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme.
Hospital with Macmillan Nurses
Unfortunately, a couple of days later her temperature spiked. I’m sure it was down to her kickass mental strength, positivity and fortitude that she managed to stay in The Cotton Rooms for 16 days before she was moved into hospital. From what I understand this is a bit of a record. Younger men with the same diagnosis managed only a few hours!
Being shut away for the remainder of the treatment in an airless room, suffering badly with sickness, ulcers and all the other joys of cancer treatment, was a horrific low point. But the Macmillan nurses kept her going during the darkest days when she wasn’t allowed to see any of her family and friends, knowing that her 3 children would be starting the new school year with their mum in hospital. Her beautiful letter in the April ‘21 Psychologies magazine (above) demonstrates her enormous gratitude to these angels.
A year on, I am happy to say she has gone into remission. Whilst she will still need to be constantly checked, life feels almost like it was, especially now that lockdown in the UK is finally easing. Except I will never take our friendship for granted. The last 12 months have been an extraordinary and awful journey but one that has brought us closer together.
Macmillan cancer support
All proceeds for my classes next week (£11 per class) will go to the Macmillan nurses. If you would like to do any of our online classes next week, drop me a message or send me an email. You can also make a donation through my JustGiving page.