Blog 1 - What a week its been!

What a week it's been! 16th May 2018

Attending the Netball Europe Open Championships 2018 in Gibraltar had been my goal ever since my cancer journey began at the end of 2017.

Having trialled and been selected for the UAE national team before my diagnosis getting to the competition became my focus. I fought the side effects of chemotherapy weekly, determined that nothing would stop me getting on that court. It has certainly not been easy, the side effects are draining and cumulative and as I write this I am back in the hospital bed, being pumped with my fourteenth dose of chemotherapy drugs in almost as many weeks.

As amazing as the games were (and I loved every moment) what is even more incredible is the global support I am now receiving. For the last five months I have been so determined to ensure that cancer does not define me that there are many friends and even distant family members that I hadn’t told of my situation. In fact, I didn’t tell most people until my hair started to fall out which was about six weeks and three sessions into the chemotherapy. So for my story to have suddenly become so public has taken some getting used to. The messages of love and support have been overwhelming! I cannot even begin to thank everyone that has taken the time to get in touch one way or another.

The biggest thing this crazy week has made me realise is that my netball family is what has kept me going, and not just getting to the games themselves. The students I teach and coach at Dubai College are my inspiration and motivation. My best friends who sit with me at chemotherapy each week are all friends I have made on the netball court. The friend that comes over to walk the dog when I’m having a down day is a member of my team. The people that encourage me to keep up my exercise are my netball friends. Without them, I am certain I wouldn’t have got to the Championship at all.

I showed the nurses some of the match footage today. Cindy is a nurse from Zimbabwe. We have spoken on many occasions about netball and how she played in her youth. Her eyes light up when she talks about the game and her former teammates. As with many of us, career and life have got in the way for Cindy recently, but I have a sneaky suspicion she will be back on court very soon with her netball family. Though I never intended for my life to become a story line at the championship, I hope it can inspire many more former players to get back on court.

So now it's back to reality with a bump for me. Chemotherapy today and work tomorrow. Good news is that I have only two more sessions before this phase of my treatment is over and my chemo fun day crew and I can celebrate - probably by burning the chemo pyjamas!!
It's then on to the next phase - surgery. Once again I have a goal (no pun intended) in sight and fully intend to be back on court in September for the start of the season. I accomplished my first goal and know I will nail the second, so look out Dubai Netball League!

In the meantime I'll be blogging on here as often as I can, so do check in to follow my journey and get in touch with any comments. As netballers, we all know of players that have disappeared from the scene for one reason or another, so my plea to readers would be to go ahead and use me as a talking point if you need to; reach out to your wider netball family and get those players back on court. Who knows, they really might need it.

Sara