"Bringing movement, improving fitness and positivity back into my life"

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in January.  I had surgery to both breasts in February and started the anti-cancer medication in March.  Radiotherapy came in April and then I was referred to physiotherapy. 

Throughout these months I lost touch with the fit and active person that I used to be.  I gained weight, lost confidence and had not returned to my gym in over half a year. When I was referred to Friends of the Cancer Centre's Physical Activity Coach (Joe) I was at rock bottom both physically and mentally. I did weekly online workouts with him which I did not think would work or make a difference as they were not in-person classes.

However, Joe made it happen every week, and the fact that I was doing it with other cancer patients took away the fears that I had about getting back to exercise by joining a "normal" class or going back to my old gym where everyone was fighting fit. It was the transition I needed to help me regain faith in what my body was able to do and that it could improve over time if I remained patient.

I have suffered massively with fatigue due to the treatment I have received this year and lack of exercise only added to the problem.  The less I moved the less I wanted to move and the worse I felt and so the cycle continued.  With an activity coach you realise that you have to start again and retrain your body and that small changes each week helped to build up my fitness levels and also my resilience to help me deal with everyday life.

I continued to work full time throughout my cancer diagnosis and found that after a full day at work there was no fuel left in the tank to have any sort of life outside of work. I simply did not have the energy reserves to do what I used to do.  Initially I thought it was hopeless and I was just going to have to remain a middle-aged menopausal mess stuck on awful oestrogen-blocking drugs for five years and it was not exactly how I planned to spend the remainder of my 50's.

Anyway, I attended classes with Joe since June. I am 55 next month.  I have just joined a new gym where I don't compare myself to my pre-cancer days.  I am regaining my strength, have cleaned up my diet and am back to exercising regularly.  As it says on the gym wall, it never gets easier but you just get stronger - and that applies to living with cancer.

 My thanks to Joe and the Friends of Cancer Centre for making this incredible facility available to me and helping to bring movement, improving fitness and positivity back into my life.