✿ cLArE sHeRviN ✿

Friday 2 September 2016

A cycle from Westcliff to Sandbanks

Action Cam. 20 minute cycle. 3 miles. A cup of coffee at The Jazz Cafe ~ join me:-

https://youtu.be/TybqwKu8ORA

Saturday 20 August 2016

Pink Champagne Breast Cancer Dragon Boat Team: Capsize Drill

Capsize Drill

Pink Champagne Breast Cancer Dragon Boat team undergoes capsize training in Christchurch Harbour, Dorset UK. A fine evening in August 2016 but it was cold in the water!

Capsize Drill: The Movie:-

https://vimeo.com/179166511

OUR MISSION - PINK CHAMPAGNE BREAST CANCER DRAGON BOAT TEAM
* To encourage women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer to lead full and active lives

* To demonstrate the benefits of an active lifestyle through the sport of dragon boat racing
* To raise awareness of breast cancer
* To provide support and fellowship to team members
* To have fun
* To celebrate our lives.

In the boat we...
Paddle together
Support each other
Learn from one another
Laugh together
Enjoy competition
Overcome fear
Encourage others
Make true friends
Take pride in our accomplishments
Break the silence of cancer
www.pinkchampagne.org.uk

Tuesday 9 August 2016

Pink Champagne BCS Dragon Boat team

Pink Champagne BCS Dragon Boat team (Like us on FB)

2 years ago today I was diagnosed with breast cancer. What followed was 10 months of Chemotherapy, Surgery and Radiotherapy.

Tonight as I often do on a Monday evening through the summer, I paddled on the Stour River with The Pink Champagne Breast Cancer Dragon Boat Team of which I am a member. 22 breast cancer survivors on the boat including a drummer and helm.

At the end of the session I found myself locked in the boathouse at Hengistbury Head Outdoor Education Centre . The lights were off and everyone had left not realising I was in the loo! As I attempted to exit I set off alarms. A night in the boathouse was NOT an attractive proposition. I looked around. Rows of seriously faded buoyancy aids hanging on pegs looked back at me. Maybe I could make a cup of tea? Is there any wifi? Should I panic?

I was (after a short time) I was freed. Outside, Allen had been inspecting a boat with a hole. Wendy and Karen had gone to chat with him instead of jumping straight in their cars and going home. They had the key. I was spared a night alone in the boathouse with only the old life jackets for company.

I then hopped on my bike and cycled the 6. 2 miles home along the sea front. The evening sun shone and I thought "what a great life this is".

Sunday 9 August 2015

~My Story~Life after Chemo/Radiotherapy etc

Written in May 2015 (and it is now August) :-

"I am very pleased to report that I have come to the 'end of treatment' in this initial part of my breast cancer journey. After 10 months of being poisoned slowly to within an inch of my life with chemo, cut open in two places, bits removed and stitched back up, tattooed, and burnt alive with radiotherapy I am still here. Still standing! Quite an achievement and is a testament to the remarkable resilience of the human body. And, after the ‘no hair at all look’ it is wonderful to see hair sprouting furiously in 50 shades of grey! Although another 5 years to go on hormone therapy medication before being 'signed off' by the NHS I feel I have leapt (or been gently nudged) over an abyss or two and arrived intact the other side!

~July~

I have heard about people going through similar experiences who have an epiphany. They have discovered the meaning of life. They have discovered their true vocation. They have ditched the job/husband/partner and embarked on a new and exciting path. They have become 'artists' without ever picking up a brush before!

For me however, I have 'lost' rather than found anything. Creativity has all gone. Not a shred left. No desire to draw or paint. Was it ever there? I feel like an onion that has been peeled back layer by layer till there is very little left. Just the core remains. Its not a bad feeling. In fact it feels good. Maybe an epiphany of sorts too? I will build from here.”

Thanks for reading

Clare

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