Tuesday 18 June 2013

Shoulder to Shoulder Today – Blog Hop for Emma



Today my humble blog and I have the honour of hosting a very special blog hop for a rather special blogger, Emma Day from Crazy With Twins who also tweets @crazywithtwins.

Now those of you who already read my blog know that my mother passed away 19 months ago from lung cancer. Our lives have been touched by cancer before but not quite like this. It would appear that cancer is now everywhere and it touches those young as well as old. So when Victoria from Vevivos and Firefly Phil decided to organise a blog hop in honour of Emma, I was keen to be involved.

Emma has undergone aggressive radiotherapy treatment in the form of a radioactive iodine drink, for the Thyroid cancer she was diagnosed with. She had an operation to remove the cancerous tumour but further treatment was required to make sure that any remaining cancerous cells were zapped so Emma went into isolation away from her hubby and 3 young children to have this intense treatment. It meant that for approximately 30 days after treatment she wouldn’t be able to come within 2-3 metres of her loved ones. The timescale varied between hubby, her eldest daughter and the twins before she would be able to cuddle them, the twins having to wait the longest time.

It was decided that a blog hop would be a great idea in helping to keep Emma’s spirits high whilst in isolation as it would be an extremely difficult and emotional time for Emma and her lovely family. But this lady is tough and somehow – she must have superhero powers ! – Emma managed to lower her radiation levels in record time (7 days) and was able to hug her babies once more.

When I heard this fabulous news it made me cry. It brought back memories of supporting my own Mum through her own treatment, not being able to see her when I wanted or needed to. It also made me remember the telephone calls we had daily about ways to support her through her chemo and radiation therapy. So, for this post I thought I’d share with Emma something that helped my Mum cope during her treatments both physically and emotionally. It is something I am passionate about. It also helped me in my recovery from PND and it is the power of Juice.


Now Emma I’m not sure if you already juice but if you don’t we need to get you a juicer lovely lady. Whilst going through treatment there were days when my Mum felt nausea or just didn’t have a huge appetite but getting vital nutrition into the body is vital when you are having such aggressive treatment like chemotherapy and radiotherapy or in your case recovering from it. Juicing takes all the hard work out for the body and is what is often referred to as “liquid gold”. Your body doesn’t have to do anything to it before it can utilise its amazing nutritious power. Most of the fibre has been removed so the body doesn’t have to break it down before utilising all the fabulous vitamins and minerals from the juice.

Now we’re not talking supermarket pasteurised juice here either which has had pretty much all of its nutritious value killed off and is high in sugar. Oh no. We are talking proper juice. The juice of Kings or in your case Queens ! Freshly extracted juice.

For anyone not ofay with juicing, take a look at Jason Vale’s website. He runs several juice detoxes each year. I did his January one and felt fabulous afterwards. I also did his juice detox when I was recovering from PND as well as eating a more alkaline based diet. Alkaline foods are important for the body. If we are too acidic we can get ill and disease has a better chance of taking hold. Chemo and Radiotherapy have an acidic effect on the body so juicing and choosing more alkaline foods can help the body to rebalance itself and heal itself again. On days when my Mum couldn’t face food, she juiced. She juiced at least once a day and there were times when to look at her you really wouldn’t have thought she had cancer.

The great thing about juicing is that you can add avocados or a banana and yoghurt to them to make smoothies. Add a few superfoods like wheatgrass and spiralina and a good probiotic (the gut is approx. 70% of our immune system) and you have a power house of nutrition just waiting to nourish you.

So Emma, rather than trying to tell you jokes (I’m terrible at joke telling; really, just ask my hubby!) or relaying a funny tale, I thought I’d share with you something that will hopefully help you on your journey to recovery and could also help build you up for the Race for Life you are training for.

You truly are an inspiration. You haven’t given up or let this beat you. Having only recently completed the Race for Life myself in honour of my Mum, I can only say it feels fabulous crossing that line and I know that Joy will be so proud that you are running this race for her, amongst others. Good luck lovely lady. I’ll be thinking of you xx

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If you’d like to sponsor Emma for her Race for Life then you can pop across to her fund raising page to donate. Every little helps. Emma also managed to get an Ipad donated to the Cheltenham General hospital ward where radiotherapy patients stay in isolation during their treatment. This was kindly donated by Cosatto so a huge “thank you” to them. Also, Emma would like to raise awareness of Maggie’s Cancer Centres who have been a great help to her and her family through this challenging time. What would we do without the support of centres like this in addition to our loving family and friends eh?

If you’d like to link up a blog post for Emma today, then please do so below. I’ll be tweeting throughout the day (tweet tweet!) so by all means come and join me @charlieejhughes making sure you put #S2S2D in your tweet. I look forward to chatting with you.






8 comments:

  1. I never knew juicing could be so amazing. Great post. So sorry to hear about your mum and thanks for supporting #S2S2D

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    1. Hi Sarah - Neither did I until I tried it. I felt amazing afterwards. It really is liquid gold for the body. I still juice & my girls love a juice too particularly freshly juiced apple. Helps to keep them regular ;0) xx

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  2. I wouldn't have a clue how to juice! I have made the odd smoothie before by throwing a few strawberries in the blender with a banana and some shop bought orange juice!

    You'll have to do a "how to" post now coz I'm curious. Sounds like a great idea.

    Sorry to hear about your mum. Big hugs to you. And well done on your Race For Life.

    Thankyou for your support and for getting involved with #S2S2D. Xx

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    1. Hi Emma - How are you lovely ? Well, I hope xx Juicing is fab. You so need to get a juicer. They are a great piece of kit and the juices are lush. Smoothies take on a whole new meaning with fresh juice in them. Packed full of nutrients too. Maybe I will do a "how to" post but we'll need to get you that juicer first xx

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  3. I know I've said it before Charlie, but losing your mum must have been horrendous and my heart goes out to you so much.

    I have a juicer and used to do it quite a bit, but I haven't for such a long time now. I really must get into again, I know the girls would love doing it and it's much nicer than shop bought stuff. Do use your pulp for anything, I used to just throw mine away, but I'm sure there's probably something that it could be used for x

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    1. Hi Nichola xx Thanks for stopping by. It has been tough but you find a way through don't you xx You should get that juicer out again - my girls love being involved :0) And the pulp; i suppose you could add it to your composter xx Thanks for stopping by

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  4. I brought a juicer when my little one was 6 weeks old but they upset her reflux. Will have another go now you've inspired me & fab advice for Emma x

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    1. Hi there - Glad I've inspired you :0) xx Definitely get that juicer back out :0) I recommended a friend try Jason Vale's 7 day juice detox recently & he feels amazing. I don't think he quite believed how good he would feel until he actually did it. It comes highly recommended xx

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