Carol Peaker’s article felt rather close to home (A moment that changed me: my son was relishing life after recovering from cancer – so why did I feel broken?, 9 November). Like her son, when I was 14 I too had a “something” that required multiple operations and hospital visits. Although my tumour was benign, thus sparing me from chemotherapy, it was certainly something that shaped me and moulded my character as I turned from teenager to adult overnight.
I will never forget something my dad told me in his stoic way after that first surgery, as I was lying in hospital in between morphine-induced nightmares of being chased by giant blue tortoises. “You must remember, lovey, there’s always someone worse off than you.” My mum, a former nurse and health visitor, certainly held the same view, as she often reminded me of it over the years of follow-up visits that she ferried me to.
I’m sure that at the time I wondered why they were always going on about it, but since then I have often thought they were right. If Carol and her husband are anything like my parents, her son will turn out just fine.
Many people who survive a health trauma in childhood go on to work in healthcare, citing a desire to give back. Twenty years on from my diagnosis, I now work as a quality assurance manager in a fantastic team of people striving to overcome children’s cancer through treatment and research. As we move towards building Cambridge children’s hospital, where we will treat the whole child – ie their physical and mental health needs together rather than only their disease – it is important to acknowledge the support their parents and siblings need; that support has definitely improved since I was in hospital.
Katherine Fitton
Cambridge
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