Our Annual Nod To That Day – Diagnosis Day 4 Years Ago
Anniversaries are strange things and usually centred around celebration and a sense of triumph. When...
28 January, 2020 / 1 Comment
Anniversaries are strange things and usually centred around celebration and a sense of triumph. When...
My 10 year old son has become an internet sensation. He has 5600+ followers on Facebook, is on...
We didn’t see it coming at all. Looking back the signs were there but boy, they were subtle, s...
It really was the last thing we were expecting. Our #newnormal was just beginning. We return to hosp...
This has never been more meaningful than it is now. We have always known and lived by the idea that ...
The frantic texting and social media messaging began almost immediately. Â The beauty of this form o...
Those first few weeks launched us into an unknown world of professionals, procedures and emotions.Â...
We spent the weekend with family and friends in an atmosphere of nervous trepidation. Visitors came,...
The weekend came and went without incident. Â As instructed, further bloods were taken on Saturday m...
This is the dichotomy I find myself in. I had ruthlessly cleared the shed of tins of paint, broken b...
So, cancer came to spend some time with us. Â There are many awkward things about cancer. Â The lang...
All children, at some time in their development will fall out of kilter with their peers. Â Whether ...
Football gets bad press. And why shouldn’t it? Â There have been scandals galore, both on and ...
That first week on Piam Brown was a blur of sterility, procedures and pain. During those first few d...
As two teachers with three children in the education system, we live and breathe education. At the m...
Cancer silences and isolates, Â this is why I have so much to say. I am fortunate to have a wonderfu...
The sibling dynamic changed within days of the leukaemia diagnosis. Before diagnosis, the dynamic of...
I am an amateur in comparison to many. My limited experience of hospital stays means that I ha...
This is one of my  conscious thoughts when I am in hospital with Mr Felix. Whilst I am in hospital ...
Driving is when I have the opportunity to gauge my stress levels. As a full-time teacher and Mum of ...
Boy oh boy, this was the best piece of advice we were given at diagnosis. I can remember, when we fi...
Chemo, chemo, chemo. Before Felix’s diagnosis, I didn’t think I had the right to casuall...
What a change this has been for us. As a family, we have always been regimented and ordered, even wh...
Life goes on. This is my daughter’s current mantra and how apt it is too.  It is an indi...
Well, I didn’t think I would ever write a blog about the end of the football season and the sa...
They don’t come along very often but when they do they are like crawling, jittery insects. And...
It’s the same every birthday but I can’t help but fondly remember their birth. Â Each on...
How we respond to our friends, colleagues and acquaintances in times of trouble is a personal and pr...
“For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do us partR...
Last week in hospital Felix broke his heart. Â He wasn’t crying because he couldn’t go t...
A lovely friend commented this on one of my earlier blogs and it really got me thinking. Had I...
As Father’s Day comes around again, I know it won’t only be different for us this year but it wi...
Today is EU referendum day. At last I hear many people cry. But what has it meant for me...
Well, that was quite a week wasn’t it. On reflection, the emotions played out have been as unp...
As a parent and teacher, I am more than aware of the importance of positive attachment between the c...
Well, this is a whole new world from a different viewpoint. Â It’s that time of year when teac...
Whilst pottering around the other morning, Â I heard a snippet of a TV programme discussing the idea...
We’re going to miss it this year, Felix and I. As a household full of kids and teachers, this ...
When the world around us seems to be spiralling out of control, we need to keep in our minds the goo...
I’ll never forget those first couple of days following Felix’s diagnosis. Â We were welc...
We all like to mark occasions in hours, days, weeks, months and years. I am acutely aware that...
So, you’ve delivered your beautiful bundle of joy and before you know it, you’re being a...
I had the pleasure of bumping into an old friend this evening at a local, well-known supermarket. Â...
As time is moving on, we are beginning to venture again into unknown territory and spontaneous happe...
I have always loved the number 44. Â It’s a bit out of character for me really as it’s j...
On Thursday 1st September 2016, we will be joining others to watch Bournemouth Pier #glowgold to hel...
Back in the 1970s, when a baby was born ‘sleeping’ or died shortly after birth, their ex...
My son has no hair. Â When we are out he will always wear a hat. Â This upsets his brother. Â His br...
OK, so that all sounds very dramatic but it popped into my head the other Monday morning whilst nego...
As autumn turns to winter, change is taking place all around us. Â The leaves that are changing colo...
I cannot put into words how much I relish and enjoy the school run. Â For me it symbolises how far w...
Wow, what a night. Such an honour to attend the National Fundraising Awards 2016 which celebrates ex...
Nothing matches or coordinates but I love our Christmas tree and all that it symbolises. Â The kids ...
I cannot dwell on the amount of celebrity deaths this year. Â Yes, the Grim Reaper has got hold of s...
Thank you … for the constant texts and calls just to ‘check in’ with us to make su...
This is what being a finalist in the UK Blog Awards 2017 means to me. It is a celebration of the goo...
OK, so we are slowly meandering towards the year anniversary of Diagnosis Day. Â How do I feel about...
The oohs and the aahs from his friends when my 8-year-old rocked up to school with this lump of ice ...
This was the most valuable parenting advice I ever received. Â It was a nugget that someone gave my ...
I knew I had to pen a blog to mark the day of diagnosis. I thought about sharing the emotional and p...
So, as it turns out, men don’t read my blogs. Â To be fair, I don’t think my husband rea...
I was starkly reminded of this at the beginning of the week. It was Monday morning and, as usual, I ...
So, blog post writing! Mmm, tricky! I used to write a blog. A blog about food, something I’m s...
It’s all so bizarre. Â I laid in bed with my nearly teenage daughter before she went to sleep ...
This is my 20th year as a qualified teacher. Â Twenty years in a profession that has changed beyond ...
Since when did it become OK to swear so readily? Â Why has our use of language become such that it i...
I feel as though I need to apologise for my lack of commitment lately. I haven’t blogged...
There are families and children up and down the country getting into a real pickle about the up and ...
Here we go, two weeks of unadulterated bliss. Â No get ups, no lunches, no routine. Â I love school ...
Good luck to everyone running the #LondonMarathon today. This was me back in 2007 with my good...
My son will sit his SATs next week along with his friends. Â I am so proud and grateful for this bec...
I am running. Yes, I am running. Â Not very fast, not very elegantly, but I am running. I often forg...
I had Bloggers Block. Â I’ve wanted to write but just couldn’t. Â Writing is my therapy ...
When Felix was diagnosed in January 2016, I could find very little information about what his future...
A year on and more important than ever. Children are diagnosed with cancer every day. We don’t...
Dear Bradley, The world is a lesser place without you. Â The world is a lesser place without the chi...
This week, my middle son set off with his big sister for his Induction Day at Secondary School. Â As...
Despite the chemo, Despite the steroids, Despite the lumbar punctures. Despite the sickness, Despite...
He looked so strong and invincible. I wanted to reach out to him, to tell him that we had been in th...
Such a simple message but one which often gets overlooked in our busy and hectic lives. Â The older ...
For lots of families, September signifies the return to school. Â As teachers with three children, S...
On this, the first day of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, I write this thinking of all of the wond...
I read these facts whilst perusing the CCAMÂ Â feature on CLIC Sargeant’s Website this morning...
When Felix was diagnosed with Cancer in January 2016 it sent shock waves throughout our family, frie...
Yann Kermorgant has been an important role model for Felix during his treatment for Acute Lymphoblas...
I know how lucky we are that Felix is starting secondary school today. Â Childhood Cancer is rare bu...
On 28 January 2016, a Thursday morning, I glanced at my phone before leaving for work. Two texts. On...
It’s not because I’m precious about my hair. Â Far from it. Â Growing up in the 1980s wi...
When someone I barely knew but whom had made me feel welcome was no longer at work. Â I heard from o...
Those dreaded words echo down the phone, Felix has Leukaemia. Â That phone call etched in our ears o...
Hi, I’m Wayne. A proud, loyal and lifetime friend of Team Brown. Some of you know me, some of ...
Gold for first across the line, Gold for a wedding band, Gold for 50 years in time, Gold for the hol...
This is a repost of a blog that I wrote in April 2016. Â It was a tough time. Â I can’t recall...
We’d “known” each other for years. Met on a parenting website. Matching aged g...
We are nine months into our journey with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. So far, our 3-year old son R...
My wife Karen, is one of those rare people who can walk into a party full of strangers and leave wit...
This is a repost to celebrate my brother’s birthday today. Â I know it is not CCAM related but...
It was a normal day in our household, it was around 6pm and the phone rang. Â To be honest, I was pr...
Mr Driscoll here, I’m very a private person whom does not like sharing my feelings or thoughts...
We were asleep and Wayne answered his phone with a “mate are you OK!” I shot up pillows ...
When Felix was diagnosed with ALL in January 2016, it well and truly took the wind from our familyâ€...