Hi, my name is Roy Haddock. I am sixty-two years young, an Ipswich lad. I grew up on the Chantry estate and  I have lived in Suffolk all my life. This is a brief part of my story and how my cancer has made me who I am today. There have been numerous moments within my cancer journey but I will never forget how it all began.

 It was on the Friday evening of the 2008, August bank holiday, I visited Mendlesham Health Centre with extreme indigestion.

               ‘Sit down Roy. You have come to me with one thing and I need to talk about another.’

Dr Raj looked ashen as if he had seen a ghost

‘You have a mass. I can feel it, on your left-hand side.’

               ‘I know, it’s  because I’m a chunky monkey. I’m the original Pilsbury Dough Boy.’ I laughed

               ‘ Understand, this is not a fatty lump, Roy.’ His seriousness stops my laughter

               ‘What is it then?’

               ‘ I don’t know, but whatever it is, it isn’t good. I will get you booked in for a scan.’

All aboard, welcome to the white knuckle ride of your life. The cancer roller coaster. Feel the fear as your car clinks into place to chug up the first hill. Guaranteed to give tears of sadness and joy.

               By mid-September, Ipswich Hospital had diagnosed that it was class four, stage three, Kidney Cancer. A tumour the size of a grapefruit had pushed my left-hand kidney up beneath my lung.

               There was only one solution. (By now I had called it Sidney) Sidney the Kidney and his unruly tenant had to be removed. On the 31/10/2008 at 7am, they scheduled my surgery, and after nine hours of being under the knife, I returned to recovery and woke up to my surgeon informing me they had removed Sidney, along with a few other bits and pieces. He believed, however, that surgery was curative. I would not receive chemo or radiotherapy.

               Fast forward two weeks.

Oncologist, ‘I would like to put you on a Europe wide chemotherapy trial.’

‘No need as surgery was curative.’…’my  surgeon assured me.’

‘Well, he is kind of right and kind of wrong. You see there is no chemo for this type of cancer. We just wait until it comes back in a different area. Then fight that.’ He sighed. ‘generally it’s the lungs, stomach or bowel.’

‘That doesn’t sound great. What’s the prognosis? How long have I got?

‘I wouldn’t like to say it’s all relative.’

‘Please, if you had too?’

‘Five years on average’

‘Ok, where do I sign?’

A new hill for the coaster to climb and one that would last for three years. In that time I would lose all of my hair, the skin off the palms of my hands and feet and about three stones.

I think it affects your faculties as well. As I took on a pub to run as a family business at the same time. In August 2011, we received the award for the best pub grub in Suffolk.

               I was one of the first in Europe to complete the trail, a grand ride down, finally tears of joy.

               Now, fifteen years later from my diagnosis, I look back on how cancer has changed my life. It has made me bankrupt, (that’s another story) taken everything I owned, but also has given me everything I have.

I have two feet on the ground, and I am still standing upright. I am still working and I am attending Suffolk University studying a master’s degree in creative and critical writing part time. I still am determined to keep a smile on my face as I hang onto the rollercoaster of life.

               Remember to scream if you want to go faster!