Wessex Cancer Trust is committed to improving cancer care services by supporting patients, families and carers to live well beyond cancer. In 2021, we awarded the charity with £60,000 to contribute towards their emotional and practical support services.
Alyson is just one of the 800 people supported by Wessex Cancer Trust every year – hear how the charity’s emotional support services helped her cope with her cancer diagnosis.
Alyson’s Story
Two years ago, 47-year-old Alyson found a lump on her breast whilst getting ready for bed. Within three days of getting it checked she was in hospital having a mammogram, a biopsy and an ultrasound.
“The doctors told me it looked and felt just like cancer before I’d even had an official diagnosis. I had to prepare myself in an instant.”
And just like that, Alyson’s life changed forever. Two weeks later, she was given an official diagnosis of breast cancer, a triple-negative tumour that doesn’t respond to preventative hormone treatment, meaning Alyson couldn’t keep cancer away like other patients can. “I had to sit down and tell my children that mummy was really unwell.”
Alyson underwent six gruelling rounds of chemotherapy after an initial surgery which removed the tumour. She lost all of her hair, powered through 26 rounds of radiotherapy, and simply kept going. “I was isolated throughout my treatment. Cancer didn’t just affect my health, it turned my entire life upside down. At that time when I was feeling my lowest, I discovered Wessex Cancer Trust.”
Alyson lives nearby to Wessex Cancer Trust’s Chandler’s Ford support centre and plucked up the courage to walk into the hub and see how they could help her. “It felt like the staff were all reaching out and holding me and I found myself coming back, day after day.”
Sometimes Alyson simply sat and cried. But the one consistency was the unwavering support from the team around her. “Those individuals alone were the support I needed. They offered me all of the counselling, wellbeing, treatments and everything else Wessex Cancer Trust have under their belt. My future was uncertain when I received my diagnosis. But the minute I walked through those doors, I felt hope again for the first time in a long time. The NHS have done a terrific job in piecing my health back together, but Wessex Cancer Trust are the ones putting my life back together.”
Return to Impact Report 2021