Medical thinking has changed significantly around exercise for cancer patients. Advice used to be ‘REST’. Now it’s ‘MOVE’. But WHY is exercise so important for cancer patients?

Today, my therapist told me I need to connect with my parasympathetic nervous system more. I live my life at a million miles an hour. I used to be proud of that. Relaxing does not come naturally.

It’s so highly underrated as a form of exercise and it’s one of my favourite activities. It’s easy, accessible, free and can be done anywhere, whatever your fitness level.

It’s hard to believe that this time two years ago, I had just lost all my hair and was in the thick of hard core chemo.

Osteoporosis! It plays on my mind. I already have osteoporosis in my spine. My hip is at the severe end of osteopenia (the precursor to osteoporosis). I feel vulnerable …

A few weeks ago, I had a check up with my oncologist. He looked through my blood work and said with a smile, ‘wow, what’s your secret?’

After my breast cancer treatment finished, I started hormone therapy. For the next 10 years.Initially, nothing much happened. A few hot flushes. To be expected. Bit of insomnia. Standard. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and thought I’d got away with it.

Like all cancer patients, even though I have finished active treatment (other than hormone therapy), I still have regular check ups, blood tests and scans.

So I just wanted to chat about menopause and HRT. There’s a lot of noise in the media about it. Which is great. Menopause affects 50% of the world.

Most of the time, I forget I’m completely flat. I never wanted reconstruction. I could never have imagined myself with implants. And the other surgery options were off the table for me.

6 months ago, I posted this on my personal instagram feed. It’s nice to see how far I’ve come … I am SO lucky that so many people care enough to ask me how I am. And I always answer, ‘Yeah I’m really good. Getting used to my new normal’.

You never forget. You never stop worrying about recurrence. But, as crazy as it sounds, I feel like cancer has been good for me. Here are 9 positive things I’ve learned from cancer.

I was bald, exhausted, sick and trying to deal with the logistics of another healthcare system and help prioritise mum’s needs. It’s not how it should be. At that point in time, I needed someone to look after me.

Here is the last 18 months in a few seconds. I hadn’t realized before having cancer how much I was self-defined by my long, blonde hair.

After 18 months of active cancer treatment, you’d have thought I’d be finished with hospitals. But I chose to go back and have my ovaries out too. Why?

The MCC is a 40km trail running race in the Swiss and French Alps. It’s a pretty prestigious event to be part of. And seemed like a perfect idea as a post cancer goal.

When most people think about cancer treatment, chemo is usually front of mind. But radiotherapy takes up a chunk of time too and comes with its own long list of side effects.

3 days ago, I put my back out. Doing one of those silly, twisty moves you know you shouldn’t do. It’s the first time in my entire life I’ve hurt my back.

There is so much noise in the media around strength training. But I will still always be a cardio girl at heart. Why?

Alcohol is classed as a group 1 carcinogen. Which is the highest, up there with tobacco and asbestos. There is a proven link between breast cancer recurrence and drinking.