Welcome to Marion’s Blog
We are delighted that our favourite exercise guru has offered to share her blog with us.
Those of you who use our Get Active programme to help you return to exercise safely will already know Marion very well.
But for those of you who haven’t taken the plunge yet we though this might be a good way to be introduced. Marion has many talents, as we will no doubt understand better, as we share her blogs.
So please read and enjoy (scroll down to see the blog articles) and don’t hesitate to get in touch with Marion via the ‘Contact Marion’ link below.
What Marion says about herself
Hi, I am a passionate writer, so thank you for reading this – it’s good to write knowing that my words will be read.
I am also an exercise professional and a nurse. I spend my day working with clients in our gyms, running exercise classes in care homes and helping people on their cancer journey to remain as active as possible.
I fall into the ‘older person’ category and am very interested in society’s perception of ageing and set out to challenge this whenever I can.
My husband has stage 4 Multiple Metastatic Melanoma (MMM), so we know what ‘living with cancer’ means. I also have lots of first-hand experience of what it means to live someone with a life limiting illness.
I also sit on the Patient Advisory Board (PAB) for our area’s Cancer Alliance. (The Cancer Alliances are designed to implement improvements to patient pathways for those with a cancer diagnosis. They cover from early discovery right through to living with and beyond). I try to put forward the patients’ perspective and their thoughts on what really matters to them, to you, to us. I hear many, many stories, but I am always keen to chat and hear more about what matters to you. If you have a story to tell – maybe something went really well – please let me know; phone, text, email, when you next see me! But if something niggles – please tell me that too – you know the ‘I really wish they would / wouldn’t xxxxxx.’ And if you really need to sound off – let me know – together we can bring about change as well as recognising great care.
My blogs are a mix of information from research, advice and tips on keeping fit and healthy and personal experience. If you enjoy them – let me know – if you have something to say – tell me!
Remember – we really only have today – so have courage and be kind
Marion 07860 128032 marion@alltogetherbetter.co.uk
Contact Marion
The views expressed in this blog are Marion’s own and not HCCN’s.
How does cancer affect your belief?
Its not at all unusual to utter a prayer at times of great stress. Who amongst us has not offered up a quick one when push comes to shove? Facing a life limiting illness is often a time when we pause and reflect on what really matters in life, on what helps and on...
read moreBeing Special
Being special Having cancer puts you in a separate category. Not one you want to be in – but one none the less. I’ve just read ‘The Island’ by Victoria Hislop, it’s about a leper colony and initially the horror of the isolation and the separateness of living with...
read moreCould you just get a grip?
Now, this might seem a little harsh. Bear with me and I will explain. Throughout life, things happen. Sometimes good things happen and sometimes shit happens. We learn how to deal with the good and the bad as we go through life. First of all our parents show us...
read more
Cancer and being cross
And I get cross with him; I get cross when he puts his gym bag on the work surface – again. (‘Don’t you know how many germs there are on the bottom of that bag and I am going to cook food there soon’ I shout) . I get cross when I drag myself out of bed at some obscene hour and he mumbles ‘do you want any help’ and promptly goes back to sleep. And I get cross when he gets up from the table and leaves me to clear up…
read more
Are you happy?
What makes you happy? I went to a talk recently all about happiness. It was about the research that is being done about why some countries are happier places than others. The speaker’s research looks at groups of people over a long period of time. And using lots of...
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10,000 steps and that 10 minute challenge !
Its great to be recommending 10,000 steps a day and suggesting that at least 10 minutes of these should be done at a brisk pace – good ideas and they will undoubtedly make a difference. But what if you really can’t do that much – if the very thought just reduces you...
read moreLatest From Facebook
We are in the news again! Exercise classes start in the new year!
New exercises classes to benefit those living with a cancer diagnosis
huntspost.co.uk
Hunts Community Cancer Network is teaming up with One Leisure Active Lifestyles to promote exercise for those managing a cancer diagnosis.What an amazing experience! Do please consider how you could support HCCN and the Whales Foundation next year.We are working in partnership with The Malcolm Whales Foundation and are looking to support their annual walk in Dorset next year. We are looking for supporters to help us with this & to help you decide if this opportunity is for you, one of our supporters has written this about their experience:
I first met Damien Whales at Huntingdon rugby club where he and my son were both players I also knew Malcolm Whales as we were both parent/supporters of the Team. Following Malcolm's death, Damien set up the Malcolm Whales Foundation (MWF) to raise funds to help the fight against cancer. As a money raiser he had the idea of taking a group of schoolchildren on a charity walk along part of the Dorset Jurassic Coastal Path and floated this amongst several of his PE teacher friends. The walk was a success and has gone from strength to strength over the last ten years. I got involved through my son, who has done eight of the walks with students from the school he teaches at, and is now a Trustee of the charity.
I first attended the walk five years ago where I drove a van filled with equipment to the campsite and then drove a minibus doing pick-ups and drop-offs of staff and the collection of any of the walkers who had been injured or were struggling for some reason. To see a line of walkers stretching back as far as the eye could see along the steeply undulating Dorset coastline was something spectacular - especially as they all wore the same colour T-Shirts with the Charity logo on them. The enthusiasm and determination all of these young teenagers to finish the whole walk was quite amazing and made me feel very proud of the effort they had put in - especially over the last 100 yards on the final day when it became a mad dash down Studland Beach to cross the finishing line marked in the sand. It was surprising that they still had the energy to run like that!
I was diagnosed with Bowel Cancer in September 2017 and had surgery in the November followed by six months of chemotherapy from January 2018. The support in the form of best wishes and enquiries about my progress from all of the supporters of the MWF was one of the things that kept me going and made me determined to attend the 2018 walk in some capacity or other. However, the side effects of chemo had other ideas and I spent the Walk weekend in Hinchingbrooke hospital Critical Care Unit with serious problems with both kidneys! This made me more determined than ever to attend the 2019 Walk and I have already booked a Lodge at the Burnbake campsite for the weekend. My wife and I are prepared to do whatever tasks are asked of us to make the weekend a success and we will probably be joined by my daughter and one of her sons who hope to do some of the Walk as well as helping out.
You asked what I get out of it and, to sum it up in a single word, I would say PRIDE. I am so proud of all of the adults who freely give their time to organise, support and undertake the Walk. I am proud of previous students who come back as young adults to do the Walk and raise more money for the charity. Finally, I am proud of the hundreds of students who take part in a very strenuous three days of walking. They attack it with great cheerfulness and determination and they all have an intense look of pride I their achievement when they have finished.
For anyone who is considering going, there are plenty of holiday cottages, B&B's, hotels etc in the Corfe Castle, Swanage and Studland area or if you are a camping or caravanning enthusiast there is a lot of space on the Burnbake camp site. The Burnbake campsite also has some Lodges on site which can be booked for the weekend (obviously depending on availability). Remember to mention you are supporting the walk and you may get a discount on fees.