‘Long road ahead but I am taking it a stage at a time’
Police officer Lisa completes six months of chemo treatment
Lisa, with her husband Jordan and, inset above right, sons Ace and Jax.
MUM-OF-TWO Lisa Coxon has celebrated completing six months of gruelling chemotherapy - with an online dance viewed more than 150,000 times.
The Staffordshire Police detective finished her treatment last Friday after being diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in August.
The 35-year-old lives in Tean with husband Jordan and young sons Ace, aged one, and Jax, aged five.
Lisa said: “I did my own version of the Mufasa Friday Dance video with the caption ‘coming out of chemo like.’
“The idea behind it is that I am doing a happy walk because I had finished my chemotherapy which had just happened to be on a Friday as well.
“I’m really shocked and didn’t expect it to be that well received. It was just something for me because normally when you finish chemo you ring a bell and there was no bell at Stafford County Hospital because some people are on it for life so they wouldn’t have the opportunity to do it.
“Doing this silly dance was my version of ringing the bell. I didn’t expect it would make people as happy as it has done. We had a lot of comments saying people felt really uplifted by it, it’s been really nice.”
Lisa had been diagnosed with tennis elbow last May - only to then find a lump under her armpit. An MRI scan found cancer had spread from her breast to the lymph node under her arm.
Lisa said: “I was on maternity at the time and that was all adding to my anxiety.
“My cancer had got quite bizarre features so they weren’t sure how I was going to respond to the chemo at first but luckily the cancer in the breast has responded really well.
“I’ve done six months of chemotherapy every three weeks. I’ve got to have surgery to have the lymph nodes removed because there is still cancer in the lymph nodes so I will have those removed and have a mastectomy.
“I’ve got to have the other breast removed as a preventative measure because of the high risk of it coming back and going to my ovaries. It’s a bit of a long road ahead.”
Lisa says she could not have coped without the support from her family and friends.
She added: “It’s been an absolute whirlwind of a year but I’ve been really lucky because my husband has been amazing and my mum as well. I’ve got some brilliant friends who have dragged me through kicking and screaming.
“That support meant everything to me. I could not have got through the last six months if I hadn’t had my immediate family, my support bubble and childcare bubble.
“It was impossible to get out of bed some days let alone look after two small children and run a house and cook and do whatever else. My support system is the only reason that I am here today in a good mental frame of mind.
“Cancer and chemo infiltrates every layer of your life, it’s like a venom and it’s so difficult to try to hold onto
yourself after the diagnoses and hold onto the person you were before. “Trying to keep hold of the positive mindset and do that is enabling me to carry on this journey. I have such a long road ahead but I am taking it one stage at a time.
“I think a message I would give to people who are worried about their health and haven’t had a diagnosis is if you know there is something wrong go and get it checked out, that’s what the GPS are there for.”
Lisa is due to have her mastectomy next month.
She added: “What we are hoping for is for me to be cured of cancer and to be able to move forward. The chemo has practically killed the cancer in the breast. I’ve still got it in the lymph node but we are hoping the surgery is going to take care of that and then possibly radiotherapy after the surgery
“I’ve had a lot of time to get my head around that. I think I’m physically prepared for it. I understand what is going to happen and what it entails and the pain. If I could get through chemo I could get through anything else physically. “Mentally it’s a big one to get my head around but for me it’s about the fact that I’m here, in whatever capacity that is. I am here for my boys and my family so anything else is not as important.”
Follow Lisa’s story and visit her Facebook page ‘Finding the Mothership’ for the ups and downs of her cancer journey.
FOR those of you that watch Parliament regularly, I am sure you noticed how different it is at the moment due to the restrictions that we all have to follow to combat Covid.
I have made several contributions to debates since the New Year, but all over Zoom, which is not the same as being physically in the Chamber. So last week, I was pleased to get back in person and make my first speeches from the famous green benches in 2021.
Before I did so, I made sure that I took a lateral flow test to check that I didn’t have the virus. These tests are available for anyone who has no symptoms and are being taken by secondary school aged children twice a week.
I used the testing facility in Parliament, but there are test centres across the Moorlands, which I really would encourage you to use. Identifying people who have the virus is a really important way of controlling Covid and, together with the vaccine programme, will allow us to move along the PM’S roadmap out of lockdown.
I spoke in the Budget debate and whilst there was a lot of good news in the Budget, I know that many businesses still have questions and concerns. I raised those with Ministers in my speech and encouraged them to support all affected so that when they can reopen, they are able to do so.
Listening to businesses is vital, but face to face meetings are not easy to hold now.
I have organised Zoom calls with many businesses and last week was a chance to hold a number of calls with local wedding businesses, pubs, cafés, restaurants and tourism businesses.