You can’t have failed to notice Angelina Jolie in the news over the last few days, speaking out about her decision to have a preventative double mastectomy. She has written openly and candidly about her decision after discovering that she has a faulty gene that significantly increases her risk of getting breast and ovarian cancer. No matter what you think about the actress on a personal level (are we all still supposed to be in ‘Team Aniston’ and ‘Team Jolie’ camps nowadays?) you have to admire her decision to be open about the surgery.
I hope it helps to raise awareness of the importance of family history as a risk factor for breast cancer (although it’s important to know that only around 5% of breast cancers are caused by faulty genes). The NHS has guidelines for looking after people who might be at risk of breast cancer because of their family history and watch out for more news about this next month *taps side of nose mysteriously*.
Getting a diagnosis of cancer can seem unfairly cruel, especially when the person in question is a small child. I know a family who are going through this very scenario right now, their six-year-old son having been diagnosed with leukaemia at the start of this year. Henry has recently had an important test to see how many cancer cells are left in his body and, in the latest post on the family’s Team Henry blog, his mum movingly describes how worried they are as well at the reaction of strangers when they see Henry with a bald head (from his chemotherapy treatment). Do take a read of her kipper and the bird-corpse post and also of the blog more widely.
And Emma from Crazy with Twins has written an update of her treatment for thyroid cancer. She explains why her radiotherapy is breaking her heart because of the size of the cancer tumour. It means she’ll need a high dose of radiotherapy and will then need to stay a safe distance away from her family, especially her young children, for a number of weeks in total. Emma’s understandably not having a great time of it at the moment and my heart goes out to her.
This month is Ehlers Danlos Syndrome Awareness Month and Jenny from Cheetahs in my Shoes has written an interesting post about a day in the life of an ehlers danlos syndrome family. May also marks International Fibromyalgia day (the 12th) and Lisa, the Mummy Whisperer, has written about her progress six months on from her fibromyalgia diagnosis. Read all about what she’s been doing, how things have improved and look out for a nice announcement right at the end.
In my last health round-up back in April, I highlighted a number of blog posts about the measles epidemic and the MMR vaccine. Well, here I am again…not writing about measles but about vaccinations. A Mummy’s View has been reminding us that, despite the existence of vaccines for meningitis, those medicines don’t protect against all forms of the condition. With over 3,400 cases of bacterial meningitis and septicaemia in the UK every year, CJ is encouraging us all to keep watching for the signs and symptoms of meningitis and stay vigilant.
Onto babies now and Christy (from Uplifting Families) writes about the time her daughter failed her newborn hearing screening test and she discovered that she had been born deaf. She describes the process she went through and the healthcare professionals she came into contact with and, although Christy lives in Texas in the U.S, it makes for an informative read.
And Elaine, over at Fun as a Gran, is experimenting with diabetic-friendly recipes after getting a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in the family. Definitely check out her lemon flapjacks – they look very tasty. I’m off now to try out Elaine’s recipe so see you next month!
Amummysview
Thursday 16th of May 2013
Thank you so much for the inclusion. I am on holiday at the min but looking forward to reading everyones posts when im back x
Laura
Friday 17th of May 2013
I thought yours was a good post. It's so easy to forget that not all forms of meningitis are covered by the vaccines and then get complacent
Emma Day (crazywithtwins)
Thursday 16th of May 2013
Thankyou for including me.
This is actually my second Cancer - Like little Henry - I had Leukaemia as a child too - I was 7 when I was diagnosed. I made a full recovery and went on to have children. I hope Henry does well with his treatment too.
I was only diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer in January. My treatment is much simpler this time around, surgery and radiotherapy, instead of Chemo. Emotionally I am finding it just as hard though. Having children and having to be away from them, makes it really tough on both me and them.
Cancer is evil. I am doing race for life in July to help raise money for Cancer Research UK.
xx
Laura
Friday 17th of May 2013
Thanks Emma. You've really had a tough time of things and I can't believe you had leukaemia as a child as well, it seems so unfair. Hope your radiotherapy goes well x
Mummy Whisperer
Thursday 16th of May 2013
Thank you ever so much for including mine and Jenny's stories in your roundup. I know that 'awareness months' are very frequent now a days, but it does help to spread awareness and help get more understanding out there - I learnt so much over the weekend when Fibromyalgia was being discussed loads.
Laura
Friday 17th of May 2013
It was a pleasure to mention both posts. Both conditions aren't that well known so anything to raise awareness is a good thing in my book :-)