For most of us our health is one of a given that we take for granted...but in the course of mere days and weeks that can come off the rails, sometimes quite spectacularly. In my case mild numbness and pins and needles down the back of my legs one evening gave way, over a period of a few days, to severe numbness below the waist which in turn started to affect my walking. Then 6 weeks later it retreated in a reverse of its arrival. MRI scans revealed the onset of MS. That summer Chris and I along with some friends were sat in our garden. The barbie was off, the kids were playing and the adults were opening a bottle or two. We came round to discussing health, illness, age (we were all approaching that age where things go wrong) and our own sense of mortality. The conversation inevitably turned to cancer. Of the five of us sat there, four had lost a parent to cancer. A child in my daughter's class had been diagnosed with a rare cancer aged just 8. One close friend had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and another's dealing with in the harsh reality of her mum's secondary diagnosis (we've since learnt of a lot more amongst colleagues, parents of our children's friends, neighbours...the list grows) and so that summer's evening the idea of
One Fine Day was born....living with, dying of, surviving it, beating it, losing to it....the families, the friends, the black humour, the tears...However fine the day is, all our dreams are weaved from slender threads.
