caring for clare
When his sister was diagnosed with incurable cancer, actor Greg Wise moved in to look after her…
as sibling relationships go, Greg and Clare wise couldn’t have been closer. Despite ending up on different sides of the camera (Greg as an actor and Clare as a producer), their bond remained. So, in 2013, when Clare was diagnosed with breast cancer, Greg was the first person she turned to and she started a blog about her journey. after a few months, she went into remission. then, in 2015, the cancer returned. again she turned to Greg. this is their story...
Clare’s Story
6 September 2015 I really thought I had passed cancer with flying colours… well, almost. Apart from the toxic poisoning and losing a quarter of my breast I thought I had done it well and stylishly. Like I knew… For the past few months, I’d been suffering with a pain in my left shoulder that migrated to my right, until eventually I could barely move my arm. I’d been told it was rotator cuff syndrome. However, when I did get an ultrasound, they noticed an anomaly on my ribs. My GP sent me to the Macmillan Cancer Centre for a CT scan. A few days later, I returned alone. I should have twigged something was up as there were at least three other specialists in the room. ‘There’s no easy way to tell you this, Clare,’ the surgeon said. ‘You have incurable bone cancer.' Bugger. Bugger. Bugger.
12 october 2015 So, what is secondary bone cancer? Well, apparently I still have breast cancer (primary) but I now have bone metastases (secondary cancer)… a lot of bloody tumours in the bones, basically.
Scans showed big tumours resting on nerves. It was decided to blast them with high-dose radiation. Greg wheeled me in, and I was tattooed and sunburnt by the time I got out. on the way back in the cab I got radiation sickness and threw up by London zoo (with a nice view of the giraffes).
20 october 2015 My bones look better – although I have fractures along my spine and the skull MRI shows diffuse tumours. I had to ask for a prognosis. Rather cheerfully, the oncologist said, ‘A couple of years.’ Blimey.
Greg reminds me, in the circumstances, this was a good consultation. ‘It’s easy to remember only the bad reviews,’ he says, clutching my hand.
23 november 2015 everything is almost ticketyboo. If it weren’t for the cancer I would be really well. I feel pretty good – have a new trendy pixie haircut (courtesy of my sis-in-law, the actress emma Thompson) and have managed to make it through another birthday – 51.
I am now in a regular cycle of two weeks’ oral chemo and a week off, and am about to start my eighth round.
20 July 2016 Sorry not to have been posting, but I’ve been a wee bit poorly due to embarking on a clinical drug trial which, unfortunately, seems to have made me worse, rather than better.
I stopped it just over a month ago and am hoping that the Big Bad-boy drugs are now coming out of my system.
From now on Greg is going to update the blog.