Round-the-world trip was off – but I’ll live
WOMAN REFUSED TO LET CANCER DIAGNOSIS STOP HER IN HER TRACKS
A FORMER Twinings tea employee has told of her nightmare after setting out on a three-year roundthe-world trip – only for it to be cut short when she was diagnosed with cancer.
Janet Bruce decided to plan the trip of a lifetime when she was made redundant by tea-maker Twinings after they closed their North Shields factory.
“I’d worked there for 20 years and it was a shock to suddenly be on the scrapheap at 44,” said Janet, from South Shields.
“I decided to do something for myself rather than look for another job straight away.”
Janet, now 49, planned to start in south east Asia and travel to Australia and New Zealand before heading to South America, ending up in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup.
But over a year into the trip she started to feel run down, and decided to head home for a couple of months to rest before her next big adventure.
Janet said: “I was just about to book my next ticket to Peru when I discovered a lump in my left breast.
“I booked in to see my GP straight away and was referred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for further investigation.
“I had a biopsy on both breasts and then in November 2013 I was told I had breast cancer.
“Instead of going back out on my travels I was forced to make a whole new plan.”
Janet had a lumpectomy to remove the tumour before undergoing chemotherapy at South Tyneside District Hospital and radiotherapy at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.
She said: “I had a big three-year plan, but sadly that was cut short by cancer.
“The only travelling I got to do after my diagnosis was touring all the hospitals for my chemo, radiotherapy and check-ups.”
Thankfully Janet’s treatment was successful and she was given the all-clear.
Three years on from her diagnosis she still goes for annual checkups whilst still continuing to take hormone therapy drug Tamoxifen, which reduces the risk of the cancer returning.
Janet, who now forms part of the Lavender Lasses fundraising group which raises money for Cancer Research UK, said cancer made her look at life in a different way.
“My experience made me realise there is more to life than work and that you can’t take it too seriously.
“I wanted to do something to help as I was very aware how important research had been in my successful treatment.
“Growing up, I lived on the same street as some of the infamous South Shields cancer fundraisers the Dolly Mixtures, and had seen their fantastic work raising money and I wanted to do my bit to help, and given my background in tea encouraging people to make a cuppa seemed like an easy way to do it.”
Janet is urging people to host a Cancer Research UK Coffee Morning this April to show how something as simple as taking a break for a cup of tea can help fund lifesaving research.
For more information about fundraising, visit www.cruk.org/coffeemorning