A CHANGE OF PRIORITIES
“Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.”
The keener eyed among you may have noticed that I haven’t written a blog since way back in February. No self-enforced sabbatical here, but rather a crossroads that changed our lives forever.
Cath was diagnosed with breast cancer in March and, as I’m sure you can imagine, we were stunned beyond belief. There had been no signs of any illness prior to the diagnosis, but in hindsight Cath knew that something wasn’t quite right. The team at our local breast care clinic were brilliant from the off. They reassured us that the cancer had been caught early and was curable, but that a mastectomy was needed due to the number of tumours. They gave us confidence that a plan was in place for Cath and that the outcome would be successful. Following 10 hours of surgery in May, the long, long road to recovery started.
Rewinding slightly, 2024 was going to be a great year for us. We’d got two foreign holidays booked, a family wedding to look forward to, and we’d planned to go new car hunting. Picture a huge “pause” button and me pressing it!
(In one quick aside, the holiday company I’d booked with were most sympathetic when I called to cancel, but politely informed me that they wouldn’t fully compensate me. I lost a lot of money, but sensibly I’ve always had holiday insurance and recovered some of it. I’ve recently booked two breaks for 2025 but the company I’ve previously used will no longer have my custom.)
Cath’s recovery from surgery took several months and when I look back now at how frail she was when she first came home to where she is a couple of weeks before Christmas, I’m staggered at both her resilience and tenacity. Of course, it’s not just the physical aspect of the surgery that needs to heal. Cath knew that what came next would be another, different, challenge. We met with the oncologist at Velindre Cancer Care Centre in July to discuss chemo and radiotherapy. This was Cath’s biggest fear and had caused us quite few sleepless nights. Happily we’ve come through all that and Cath was told she was cancer free in October. We’re both very positive people and even during the worst days kept going but this year has profoundly changed our priorities. There’s still a way to go with Cath’s treatment but it’s all preventative from this point on and that’s less of a burden to carry with you every day.
I had to put my photography business on hold while we got Cath well again. I cancelled all my tuition workshops and turned down a number of commissions, but was lucky enough to find time to fulfil print orders. If I’m honest, dealing with business enquiries became a real chore during this time. I got to the point where I decided to close the business in the new year. It wasn’t a difficult decision - my work simply wasn’t a priority anymore and my heart had gone out of it. I decided to tell Cath once her treatment had finished because I didn’t want it to be a distraction. When the time was right I told Cath my plan and she was heartbroken. She told me she simply couldn’t imagine me not doing something I’d loved for so many years and asked me to reconsider. For clarity, this wasn’t in any way a financial issue. This was Cath telling me that I needed to rediscover the joy of being outdoors and making images (subtext being “and not being under my feet every day” ). Of course she was right, and while I was mulling things over I received a number of workshop bookings for 2025. I’d forgotten to close the 2025 calendar as I hadn’t thought that far ahead to be honest, but perhaps that was a happy accident. I’ve also had a couple of friends drag me out with the camera recently, all of which has helped enormously with deciding to keep the business going.
So, with renewed energy, I’ve spent some time revamping my website, increased the range of tuition workshops for next year, and slimmed down my online galleries and print shop. You never know, I might also get that calendar printed next year…..
While this all sounds dangerously like making plans (as per John Lennon’s quote above) it feels good to be back doing something positive, now I have a little more free time with Cath getting stronger with each passing month. It feels good to start looking ahead again albeit fairly cautiously at the moment, but the motivation’s finally back which feels even better. One of my biggest challenges will be getting fit again - a year spent in hospital waiting rooms rather than on hillsides has taken its toll and so I’ve moved the scales out of bathroom for now……
We feel blessed though to be ending the year on a positive, and are so grateful for all the support and love from our families and friends, and I can’t end this blog without thanking all of the wonderful people in the NHS who have saved Cath’s life. God bless every single one of ‘em.
And finally, I want to wish you all a happy, safe, and peaceful Christmas. Enjoy every minute of it. I know we will !!