Well 2017 turned out to be one hell of a year! Exactly one year ago, as 2016 morphed into 2017 and with a hospital appointment hanging over me I had a huge knot of foreboding in my stomach. Up until that point I’d been lucky in life with everything slotting nicely and neatly into place. I remember telling Ad that I was scared that the breast lump I’d found would turn out to be our “thing” – a faceless evil we’d been half expecting to land on us without warning and derail our charmed life.

Unfortunately I was right, but only to a point. Yes it’s been the most terrifying ordeal and as a family we’ve been through way too much this year. But derailed? No. Not even slightly. Because despite everything I feel strong, happy and incredibly lucky, and our little family is tighter than ever.

Truthfully, 2017 hasn’t been all bad. I’ve shed at least as many happy tears as sad, scared tears – maybe more. So I will choose to remember 2017 for the good rather than bad. It will be the year I beat cancer, the year Abs smashed her GCSE’s, the year Josh excelled at school and formed a lovely new friendship group, the year we got a dog, the year that I realised who and what is important in life. The friends that caught us as we fell, and did the most amazing things for us, will stay in our hearts forever. We’ve made lots of happy memories this year; holidays, days out, quality time together. In fact our “happy jar” is pretty full. Not bad for a year full of hospital appointments, tests, chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy.

I’m hoping 2018 will be an easier year for my family and everyone else too. 2017 has been a less than perfect year for lots of people I know, and a totally shitty year for some of you. But whatever 2018 has to offer we have a duty to grab it with both hands and squeeze every ounce of enjoyment from it.

Thank you to everyone that has helped us through 2017. Here’s hoping 2018 brings us all good health and plenty of happiness.