We are The Christie magazine -Edition 5

Patient stories

Louise Anderson

Louise Anderson, a 56-year-old swimming teacher and a school support assistant, has been living with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) – a type of blood cancer – for nearly nine years. Louise, or ‘Nannie’ as she’s known to her two grandchildren, lives with her dog, a Border Terrier called Angus, in Macclesfield. She has taught swimming to children and adults for 23 years and worked in secondary education for 20 years. Although CLL is highly treatable and many patients will go through long periods of remission, it’s not completely curable, something Louise found difficult to deal with at first. “I didn’t need any treatment – just monitoring – for the first couple of years after my diagnosis. I’m a practical person, so I found that difficult as there was nothing I could do. CLL is a bit different to some other cancers in that I’ll never be fully rid of it, which some people find hard to understand.” Louise loves staying active and busy. In addition to working two jobs, she also enjoys cycling and swimming, and is studying for a degree in Childhood and Youth Studies with the Open University. She also loves travelling and recently spent a few weeks in Kefalonia volunteering with a turtle conservation project. “Being active and travelling enriches my mental wellbeing and my life as a whole. Dr Faye Sharpley, my consultant at The Christie at Macclesfield, has been brilliant in understanding this and helping me achieve as much as I can. I had to go back on treatment a few months before I went to Greece, but I told her I was going to do it, and she was fully supportive. We worked together to make sure that I was ready to go. “I had the best time in Greece. We were up early each morning, cycling the seven miles to the beach to look out for any nests that had been made overnight. Once we’d found one, we’d measure and mark the area to stop people from accidentally destroying it.

“I’m now on my second line of treatment, which is a daily pill, so I was able to keep taking that while I was out there. I had a couple of dips

"When you have cancer, being able to feel like yourself and to do the things you love is so important to your overall wellbeing.

when I started taking it, but it’s got better, and I hope it stays that way. The trip was physically challenging, but I did it, and I’m very proud of that. It did wonders for my physical and mental health. When you have cancer, being able to feel like yourself and to do the things you love is so important to your overall wellbeing. It’s made a massive difference to me,” Louise says.

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