Teenager Nevah Richards, of Crossways, was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer earlier on in the year.
Last month she decided to document her journey in a series of diary entries to the Dorset Echo.
Nevah is now five months into treatment.
Over to Nevah.
Since my first diary entry was published in the Echo a couple of weeks ago, I have had lots of kind messages from friends and strangers who said they enjoyed reading it.
I didn’t actually know it had been published until I started to notice I was getting a lot more Instagram followers.
I have now had my ninth chemotherapy cycle at Southampton which I had originally been told was the last before the next treatment plan begins.
I had been told I would have three weeks at home before leaving for London on the November 6, but my mum had a call yesterday to say I had to go to London the next day for a scan and then possibly have to go straight to Southampton for another cycle of chemotherapy before radiotherapy starts.
I won’t know what is happening until a couple of days’ time after the scan. It can be quite stressful at times when plans change at such short notice. So, the two weeks I have had at home has been great, but it hasn’t all been smooth sailing as my temperature spiked and I had to spend two nights at the Kingfisher Ward in Dorchester.
While there, I had to have another blood transfusion and also a platelet transfusion and I think I might have to go in again before London to make sure I am ready for both the chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment, but that will depend on what happens in the next few days….
I have been a regular visitor to the Kingfisher Ward in-between treatment at Southampton and I now know all the staff really well. The whole team at Dorchester are brilliant.
They always come and keep me updated with things that are happening and always put me at ease even when they are telling bad news like when I had an infection in my double lumen Hickman line which is the thing that the nurses use to give chemotherapy, anti-sickness medication, blood/platelet transfusions, anti-biotics and fluids.
On my last visit to the ward, the nurses helped me to name my lumens, ‘Dennis’ and ‘Diane’. Dennis (the menace) is the white lumen and is the one that sometimes is difficult to pull blood from and Diane is the red one and named after Diane from Strictly as she has red hair.
The play team on the ward always make sure I have something to do and are always available to keep me company if I need it and the community nurses who come to my home a couple of times a week when I am home are amazing because they talk to me about sensitive subjects, and it feels good to talk to someone other than Mum and Dad.
Back in the summer, my friend Sophie from my cricket team, Dorchester Ladies, decided to setup a GoFundMe page for me so I could get a puppy as my parents finally gave in to all my pleading from the last 13 years to have one.
As well as to raise money for that, we decided we wanted some of the money to go towards a charity. This week, we have sent off just over £7,100 to The Christie Charity, who are an NHS charity who are developing a new blood test to speed up the diagnose of Ewing Sarcoma.
READ NEVAH'S FIRST DIARY ENTRY HERE: Crossways teenager Nevah Richards diary of her cancer battle
Sophie shaved her head at the fundraiser event that Rachel and Mark, who run the ladies’ team, organised for me with help from a lot of other people at the club. It was touch and go whether I would be able to go as it almost ended up clashing with my treatment schedule, but I did make it and I loved it.
I even had friends from Devon travel up for it and it was so good to see them there. That event raised an extra £1,000.
So, I am now the proud owner of a gorgeous white golden retriever puppy called Coco, who is now 16 weeks old. Coco was actually donated to us in the end from someone my mum used to know back in Devon who heard about me and wanted me to have Coco.
The money that was donated for a puppy, Sophie wants me to still have to help pay for her food and toys and any extra money to put towards some fun things to do after my treatment has finished.
Coco is so soft and very well behaved most of the time and she is very popular when we take her for walks.
Nevah x
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