Here’s a little information about  me, if you’re curious, and an overview of what to expect in this blog.

After growing up in the north of England, I graduated from University with a degree in French and Hispanics Studies and worked in public relations for a few years before deciding I wanted to work in the environment and development field.

After retraining in  environmental management and urban and regional planning, I joined a London Borough where I work as part of a busy regeneration team.

I drove myself hard and, after all that studying and career development on top of intense physical training and a busy social life, it’s perhaps no wonder that I became very ill in 2013 – two chest infections turned into a diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and I could barely walk across my flat for six months…

But, with incredible support from the Chronic Fatigue Service at Barts Hospital London, and from family, friends and colleagues, I got back on my feet and started back at work part time in April 2014.

After building up to full time work in December 2014 and the future looking bright, you can perhaps imagine my despair when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2015.  I had two tumours and the initial treatment plan was mastectomy.

But my partner and I pushed for a transfer to the Royal Marsden Hospital where I had the opportunity to receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy  (before surgery) with a view to  shrinking the tumours and avoiding mastectomy.

I completed treatment in 2016 and am now (April 2020) taking Tamoxifen with four clear scans behind me.

Thank you for reading my blog.  I hope you find some useful information amongst its pages and do get in touch if you have any comments or queries.

Della x