Meet Allyson
Allyson (she/her) - Mixed
Diagnosed in 2019 & 2020 - Breast & Ovarian cancer
I am strong, I am resilient, I am being the best I can be.
I have a diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer (OC) received in 2020, a year after having breast cancer.
I have a homologous recombination deficiency, which is a bit of mouthful, but more commonly known as HRD. In the early days, I could never recall what it stood for, and for me became 'Hope, Resilience and Divine Healing', the healing means the damage from the diagnosis no longer controls my mind.
I saw my post cancer treatment as a new chapter and although it was scary, I wanted to focus on living my life and doing things that brought me joy every day, be the best I could be, looking after my mind, body, and soul, but also giving back to help others was important for me.
Little did I appreciate the power of a goal but found that setting a goal to ‘walk 1000 miles in 2021’ changed my way of life. Walking became very important to me in 2021 as I sought to raise awareness of OC and raise funds for Ovacome, the charity that supported me after my diagnosis.
Walking helped me both physically and mentally, by early march, found I was walking a marathon in a week and wondered could I do this every week & walk 52 marathons in 52 weeks? Yes, I did it!
"Setting goals for my mind, body, and soul every day, gave me hope post treatment."
I found inspiration from words, which started by picking a card after breakfast from ‘Crazy Sexy Love Notes' - messages from your wise and fabulous inner self (a gift from my husband) which I know sound a bit odd, but they are wonderful and always made me smile. I have continued with my walking, found joy from creating art with fabrics and going out into the garden for an hour a day at least 3 times a week. I do like to keep busy!
Exercise, reaffirming goals and spirituality were the things that made a difference to my life post treatment. My daily walk where I could walk & talk to myself (if needed) and importantly feel the benefits of being part of nature. If the fears returned, I might have a few tears and have a sing out loud, but always return home feeling better.
Setting goals with Life after cancer really helped me focus, with a reminder, me first. I am a strong and resilient woman. I can do this.