So you know what they say, “lightning doesn’t strike twice…” Well, it’s a lie, or should I say a myth?

I was born in Venezuela where, by the Catatumbo river, lightning strikes not just twice but up to 280 times an hour… You don’t believe me? Read all about it and watch the spectacle.
So now I’ve got your attention here’s my story.

On 6 October 2015, two days after completing the Bournemouth Half-Marathon, I was given a diagnosis of cancer, more specifically Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs) in the small intestine with metastasis (spreading) to the liver. The symptoms I had felt for the previous nine months were so common that my doctors were baffled, and to be honest so was I.

Up to that time I had been supporting Michael, my husband, who 30 months before had been diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer. You see, lightning does strike twice… Michael died on 15 January 2016; I now know he found it difficult to cope with the news of my diagnosis.

So this blog is about living, in every sense of the word, with cancer. I’m trying my best to stay alive for our beautiful children.

The views I express here are my own, unless of course I’m quoting another source in which case I will make sure to acknowledge it.

Thank you for reading,

Marbellys

When lightning strikes…twice!