Jo’s story
‘I just needed to speak about it for it to make sense, for me to be able to deal with it in my own head.’
Jo Johnson from New Mills was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2022, and for Jo this came at a time when she already had a huge amount to deal with. ‘On top of the ovarian cancer diagnosis I had a lot going on in my life. My dad was poorly, my mum had started with Alzheimer’s, my sister had cancer and my husband had ulcerative Colitis’
Jo Johnson and her husband
To further add to Jo’s worries, she had discovered she had the BRCA gene variant, and was anxiously waiting on test results to see if her daughter also had the gene variant, (Predictive genetic tests for cancer risk genes – NHS (www.nhs.uk) which greatly increases the risk of ovarian and breast cancer.
As part of her treatment Jo, aged 57, underwent a full hysterectomy and had a stoma fitted at The Christie. She explained: ‘It was awful, I had such a lot on my plate and felt I needed some help – just to talk to someone about it all.
‘After my surgery The Christie put me in touch with Blythe House Hospice as one thing I needed was counselling to support me with everything that was going on.
‘I then got a phone call from Karen at Blythe House Hospice where she sat down with me and discussed everything that was offer for me at the hospice.’
Jo was able to access counselling, acupuncture, and physiotherapy services from the hospice to help support her through her diagnosis. ‘Counselling did help me an awful lot. We unfortunately lost my dad in October 2023 just as I started counselling. Having the counselling support from Blythe House Hospice helped me so much, it helped me talk stuff through and help process my feelings and emotions at such a difficult time.
‘I would definitely recommend it. It was having someone to talk to who doesn’t know what is going on and I didn’t feel bad about telling my story again. Sometimes people ask you how you are, and you think do you really what to listen this?
Jo Johnson and husband during her treatment
‘I just needed to speak about it for it to make sense, for me to be able to deal with it in my own head. You can get a completely different view when talking to someone else, and it gave me other ideas and support, maybe think about it this way, maybe try this. It is definitely something I would recommend.
Jo couldn’t speak highly enough of the team she has seen. ‘They have been fantastic, absolutely amazing they do a fantastic job.’
Teacher, Kelly accessed counselling and support at Blythe House in spring 2023 after her diagnosis with breast cancer in January.
The mum-of-two from New Mills explained: ‘I was getting in the shower back in November 2022 when I put my arm up and spotted a little lump next to my breast; near where my breast met my armpit. I had a feel but I wasn’t too worried; I just thought it was a raised gland, but there wasn’t one on the other side. I mentioned it to my husband and decided to go and get it checked out.
‘My GP checked me over and made an urgent referral to Macclesfield Hospital. Within two weeks, I underwent scans, mammograms and three biopsies. We had a horrendous wait over Christmas to find out the results, and I was told I had HER2+* breast cancer in January.
‘I started with six rounds of chemotherapy but also had drugs administered to targeted the HER2+ specifically. Then I underwent surgery to have a mastectomy, and following that, I had radiotherapy.
‘I met a friend and former colleague for a catch up who’d retired from my school. She’d had breast cancer previously and she asked me if I’d been in touch with Blythe House. I queried her question; I thought hospices were places that people go to die. She told me absolutely not; that the hospice provided so many different services, and levels of support.
‘I got in touch with the hospice and came in with my husband to chat through all our worries and concerns. I attended information and support sessions, and the Breast Friends breast cancer support group, which were really helpful to learn from and chat to the hospice team, and meet likeminded people.
‘I also referred myself to the counselling service where I had seven sessions with Kate. The thing with being a mum is that I wanted to shield my family from what I was actually feeling. My son is 15 and my daughter is 11, and my husband was of course very worried too. I can only imagine what it’s like to watch people that you love go through something so horrendous, and the fear you must feel, so I tried to stay positive and cheerful all the time.
‘Counselling was a chance for me to say how I really felt, and talk through how bad it was. It was really useful for me to have somebody who I could talk to, and be completely honest with. I did not have to worry about upsetting anyone or hurting anyone’s feelings.
‘I am in a good place now; my prognosis is very good and there’s a relatively low chance of my cancer coming back.
‘The support from the hospice has been absolutely brilliant, and the fact that it’s somewhere local too. For a lot of cancer services, you have to travel into Manchester, Stockport or Macclesfield, so it’s really handy to have something on our door step here in the High Peak.
‘When you’re first diagnosed with cancer, you feel so isolated. Despite the adverts that we all see, about one in two of us being diagnosed in a lifetime, I didn’t know anyone that I was really close to, and there was no one in my family. I felt totally on my own and plunged into a whole new world; one that I did not want to be a part of, but I had no choice. The hospice gave me the opportunity to be with people in similar situations, who understand a little more about this world. The hospice made me feel a little bit less scared and worried.’
