Steven's Story

Steven Michael Girdlestone

Steven Michael Girdlestone

Steven say’s

“Well my journey started around Christmas time in 2012; this is when I started to feel very ill and lost an awful lot of weight very fast. Even though I had a loss of appetite, was feeling nauseous/dizziness and generally under the weather I just got on with life thinking I had a flu or a bad cold.

On February 14th 2013, I collapsed in the shower and banged my head really hard. I was found unconscious by my flat mate at the time after he ended up knocking on the door as he was running late and needed the bathroom. He saw I was very drained and took me to the hospital.
I was rushed through Newham Hospital really quickly and many tests were done, including various blood tests. I will always remember it as if it was just yesterday when I was told, “you’ve got a disease called Leukaemia, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, cancer of the blood.” It was when she said the word ‘cancer’ that I felt numb and did not know what to do.

I was in and out of hospital for many months on a continuous regime of chemo and then on August 15th 2013, I had a Stem Cell Transplant. Although this treatment ‘knocked me for six’ and I was very sick I believe I was given a second chance and can never thank my unknown German donor enough!

During my recovery, since that fateful day, another special day will stick with me always  – the day when the Founder of Cancer Is A Drag contacted me on Facebook as he could see from my Facebook posts and comments that I was having a hard time and struggling financially. He spoke to me in a way that was not belittling but of great respect. He said that the charity could support me and offered me the opportunity to apply for a grant from them to help me cope with my daily living expenses and the fact that I was having to relocate to my original home, Scotland, as I could no longer afford to live in London and I needed to be near my family.

Cancer is a Drag and I have continued to stay in touch and I get regular updates on how this wonderful charity is going.

I have made a promise to myself that I really want to do something to help the charity and give some love back to others in need now that I’m in recovery. I am therefore planning to make a fun ‘Cooking with Pam’ dvd using my drag Alta Ego Pam Olive. I am also a keen painter and will be setting up an auction of my work for sale with all funds from both endeavours being donated to Cancer is a Drag to support them in the wonderful work they do.

Watch this space and please help us to help them help others like me!”end-logo

WE NEED YOUR HELP

Can you help other people like Steven? Donating is simple and easy to do