Home

After three wonderful months abroad we have returned safely home to our darling family. How delightful it is to travel but how precious is home.

It was in Zagreb that I first noticed a tickle in my throat and bought some herbal honey and some lozenges to relieve it, and I had been a little out of breath climbing some of the hills in Slovenia - but they were pretty steep!

The tickle developed into a cough over the weeks but as we were travelling and it wasn't slowing me down I wasn't concerned and just thought it was a little congestion that would clear. At the departure lounge at Heathrow, as we were flying back, I coughed up blood.

Arriving home, I woke at night unable to breathe and saw my GP expecting I would need anti-biotics. It was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe (and speak) and she made an urgent appointment with a surgeon who quickly did tests, more tests and made a firm diagnosis of a rare and extremely aggressive thyroid cancer which has spread to my lungs and liver.

I received immediate and expert medical care. As surgery cannot be performed steroids have reduced the swelling to make breathing easier, and I have undergone a course of daily radiotherapy on my neck and I am undergoing chemotherapy for my lungs and apart from some side effects, which I can cope with, I am keeping well.

It has been quite an amazing journey and there is so much to be thankful for. Through it all my loving Heavenly Father has faithfully sustained me, protected me and carried me as He answered the outpouring of prayer of my behalf. I have felt privileged and humbled to receive an abundance of love, care and prayer support from so many. What a joy!

We are still on school holidays and our family is spending lots of time together. A lovely, quiet Christmas, my sister and her family staying into the New Year, many visitors dropping in and today our youngest child is celebrating his birthday - 22 years ago he was born in a tiny country town in Queensland. Little Belle will be 2 years old soon and she is also to be a big sister with our newest grandchild due on 1st June.

There is so much life to be lived, it is a thrill to wake to each new morning and a joy to be part of it all.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6