Timeline

Here’s a summary of the past seven years:

1. Abi becomes unwell, but her symptoms remain undiagnosed.
2. She is rushed to the hospital to have life-saving surgery.
3. Diagnosed with a ‘benign’ brain tumour.
4. Shunt fitted.
5. I cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise funds and say thank you to Abi’s hospital.
6. Divorce.
7. Abi has 18 months free of tumour progression.
8. Tumour growth. More brain surgery.
9. I cycle from London to Nice to thank Abi’s hospital again, raising more funds for them.
10. Against the advice of Abi’s Oncologist, we have a year of ‘watch and wait’.
11. Abi has a complete resection. Tumour-free!
12. She remains tumour free for over a year but then has a recurrence.
13. Abi’s hospitalised when she can’t stop vomiting.
14. A second brain tumour is found in the hypothalamus.
15. Abi starts chemotherapy.
16. More sickness and Abi’s weight plummets. She is put on artificial feeds.
17. Abi stops vomiting and gains weight.
18. A year of tumour free progression. Shrinkage, even.
19. My relationship with Abi’s mother plumbs new depths when I get arrested for alleged assault.
20. Chemotherapy ends.

What a time we’ve had! A proper roller coaster ride! Seven years of fast descents into illness, followed by slow climbs back up to good health. There have been plenty of twists and turns in-between too; tumour progression and dissemination, chemotherapy, a divorce and an arrest. Meanwhile, I’ve also managed to get a postgraduate degree and cycle two thousand miles, in the process raising thousands of pounds for Abi’s hospital.