Moving forwards after cancer. Why NOW is the time!
Not every girl’s dream, but this is my post cancer adventure dream - meet Landy
Every day during my cancer treatment, I looked at a picture that hangs above our toilet. It’s a Land Rover Defender driving into a mountain sunset.
I realise this isn’t every girl’s dream. But it’s mine. For the last 30 years — ever since doing a volunteer placement in Africa as a student — I have dreamed of heading off into the unknown in an old-school Land Rover Defender. Dusty roads. Big skies. No rush. Just movement and freedom.
During treatment, that picture became a daily reminder to stay present. To lift my eyes from fear, appointments, side effects, and uncertainty, and remember that there was still a future ahead of me. A life beyond cancer. Even on the hard days, it helped me imagine myself there — alive, capable, and moving forward.
And now… it’s real.
Meet Landy.
Cancer made me do it.
I looked at this picture for inspiration during cancer treatment. Now it’s real!
Last year, I made the decision to sell a studio apartment I’d inherited in order to buy a Land Rover. Yes, I know — not exactly the most financially sensible move. Definitely not one that would appear in a textbook on “smart investments.” But it was a decision from the heart. A decision that took time, reflection, and courage. Not impulsive or reckless — but deeply intentional.
Cancer strips life back to the essentials. It forces you to confront how fragile, temporary, and precious time really is. Somewhere along the way, I realised that constantly postponing joy for “one day” is its own kind of risk.
As a cancer survivor, I’m trying to be truer to myself than I was before. I’m trying to live in alignment with what I say matters. I’m trying not to get so swallowed up by routines, responsibilities, and the endless to-do lists that I forget to actually be — and to live.
I am profoundly grateful for my body and my health. I’m grateful that my long-term side effects are mostly manageable. Grateful that I can still — for the most part — do the things that make my heart sing. I hate cancer. I truly do. But with a bit of distance, I can also acknowledge the gift it gave me: perspective.
Landy is so much more than a vehicle. She’s a symbol of health and wellbeing, putting cancer behind me and saying yes to all the adventures
It taught me the importance of presence. Of noticing. Of saying yes when life offers you something meaningful. Of not waiting for the “perfect” time, because it doesn’t exist.
I’ve come to realise that NOW is the time. Now is the time to live. Now is the time to make the memories, to take the trip, to buy the thing, to chase the dream — while your body allows it and your heart is calling for it.
So, sorry Dad (and thank you for the inheritance). Cancer made me do it. And I think, deep down, you’d be secretly proud 🙂