Helen

I first noticed symptoms when I was 44, after a week-long bug in August 2023. I’d never been an ill person before this all started, in fact I would say I rarely had a day of ill health.

Then, in October 2023, I was on a return flight from Australia and had what appeared to be bad food poisoning. The picture of me in the sea was at the Great Barrier Reef. My daughter and I were visiting my dad, as we’d done several times before. We had the best time.

I was suddenly very ill

A week later I had a kind of seizure. My temperature was 41 and I had jaundice and sepsis. At the hospital, I insisted on an endoscopy. This detected a tumour in my ampulla of Vater. At the time, the medics thought that this was benign.

I had surgery, but recovery wasn’t easy

In February 2024 I had a Whipple’s procedure, which confirmed I had ampullary cancer. After I had my Whipple I spent five days in intensive care. This was the lowest point for me.

I started chemotherapy in April 2024. The selfie is a picture of me at home with the chemo. I only tolerated six rounds of chemo as I developed a severe reaction to the treatment.

When I returned home after my Whipple I found it very difficult to be around anyone. My husband, children, mum, friends and dogs were my rock through this all and I am eternally grateful for their love and support.

I was so pleased that my husband took the children away on a lovely holiday shortly after my operation, so I had a bit of time to process everything that had happened and try to get through this in the only way I knew how to.

Coping with the emotional impact

I had a lot of pain throughout my illness, and this had an impact on my mental health. I needed a hernia repair operation after I was finished with the rest of my treatment. This helped me to feel better. And at various points on this journey I had psychological support to help me through it.

I had so many days when I had to really dig deep to get through each day. I’ve never enjoyed craft, but I found that diamond art and painting helped. It gave me something to do when I couldn’t bear even watching tv or when I didn’t have the mental strength to read.

I would try and think of things that might make me feel 5% better. A friend bought me essential oil smelling products that I would use. I would try anything to try and lift me just a tiny bit from where I was.

It’s helped me to read stories of other young people on this site, particularly those with ampullary cancer.

I’m making the most of every day

I’m now one year post-Whipple. I’m living every day as positively as I can. I don’t waste a minute anymore. As you can see in my photo, I even travelled to China in November 2024, despite not being able to get travel insurance. Some people thought I was making a poor decision going to China, but I think in all this you have to be true to yourself and be the person you always were.

Life post-Whipple is very different to how I was before. But I have two teenagers so am keeping a strong head on and doing all I can to make every day count.

Helen
February 2025