Keeping your sense of Tumour by John Blackburn

This is the story of John Blackburn who was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2009, a cancer of the bone marrow. It takes us through his journey from initial diagnosis to his treatment and his continued rehabilitation.

I am always amazed by the bravery and strength of character that I come across, in my work as a Staff Nurse, of patients and their loved ones as they cope with all the various repercussions and complications of dealing with any form of cancer.I was happy to come across this book by a fellow northerner who seems to share my love of pies and football and is even a massive fan of my local team Chorley FC. I myself am an armchair Wigan Athletic supporter but really must get along to Victory Park if I am to progress to become a proper adopted Chorleyite!

What struck me was how professional this book is, considering how he more or less put it together himself from scratch. I have come across many books by well known Authors and publishing houses that are littered with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors and John's book isn't one of those. I found 'Keeping a sense of Tumour' fascinating from a nursing perspective and refreshingly honest!

It is written with a brilliant sense of humour and I think that sense of humour ( and probably his extrovert nature) is one of the things that has kept John ( and his family) going throughout his ups and downs. I think this book will also be encouraging to other people that find their lives being effected in one way or another by a cancer diagnosis. My mother survived lung cancer a few years ago now but apart from that I cannot even imagine how I would really cope in his situation. As a Clinic Nurse the most I can do is act as Dr Kanyike's glamorous assistant and leave the more complicated stuff to Stuart, Claire and Louise who do a brilliant job as specialist nurses.

On a more personal note I found this book encouraging from another point of view. I have been interested in writing since I was 6 or 7 and my ambition is to eventually get published, it's all I have ever wanted to do to be honest. John has inadvertently given me a little bit of hope that that will happen one day, even if I end up being broke and living in a bedsit with a lamp and a canary for company, but I digress.

Buy this book from Amazon or contact John Blackburn at JohnBlackburn@blueyonder.co.uk to get a really nice hard copy. John is hoping to raise as much money for cancer charities as he can by selling this book, please give him a helping hand.