"Back in hospital for my weekly treatment. Recently I've been coming in for all day visits 2-3 times a week but thankfully I get to go home at the end of a long day. I have been dodging readmission for several weeks and so far I've been lucky. Let's hope it stays this way as the children get quite anxious now if I leave home for too long. I have caught myself reviewing the past year recently. The first serious concerns for my health by medical staff began exactly this week last year. I remember how my instincts went into overdrive and I began sorting and preparing the kids and the house for 'something' although I didn't know exactly what it was. With no symptoms except the small lump behind my ear, I had no way of knowing what was coming. There would be so many delays and blunders at my local hospital in the next few weeks. Suddenly symptoms did begin to appear and within days I had the type of pain that would see me rushed to A&E four times and unable to get off the floor. Yet it would take a month before I was finally diagnosed by another hospital. At my local hospital, I was always sent home, always told to wait. I'll never forget the exhausted but totally insensitive A&E doctor who told me she dealt with people "at risk of dying today not those likely to die in the next few months". I saw the impact of the cuts to the NHS in their full glory and I was totally horrified at what this could mean for me. My family and friends couldn't believe what was happening and even begged me to return to Oz. I realized then that the misdiagnosis and delays had been going on for more than a year, that I had been trying to talk about that tiny lump behind my ear whilst still pregnant with Sofia. My cancer concerns grew, specially when I thought of how long that little lump had been there. I can't fully explain how full of fear, uncertainty and frustration this period was for Sam and I. But yet I would not change a thing. Because the thought of what would have happened if I had been diagnosed whilst living in another country, whilst we searched to buy a house or, worse still, whilst I was pregnant with Sofia makes me feel so sick. El Salvador does not have a bone marrow register. Sadly, you have to have a lot of money and go to another country for a transplant. Even wonderful Australia does not yet have specific bone marrow registers like Anthony Nolan or DKMS to search for donors internationally. No one would have given us a mortgage and my beautiful girl might not have been born. By another total miracle, and whilst feeling so poorly, I also managed to drag myself to my GP to beg for a referral to another hospital. The new locum doctor who saw me had a contact at UCLH and within a week I was diagnosed and began chemo at one of the best hospitals in the world for leukemia and transplant treatment. Any doubts I might have held about making the decision to live permanently in London have since totally evaporated. I can't describe how my gratefulness for this chain of events sustain me whenever I begin to feel unwell or down. Add to this the enormous support and kindness my family and I have witnessed and continue to see and Sam and I are left totally humbled and speechless. I knew I had special people in my life, I just didn't know how many or the extent of the love for us. Sam and I still can't quite believe, and can't help feeling unworthy about, what is happening with the Just Giving page at the moment. The immense relief and help this will bring to ease one of our biggest worries (keeping my mum here in the U.K. for as long as possible) is massive. Again, I can't stress how grateful we are for the support and generosity we are seeing through this wonderful initiative. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! I realize this is a long post but I was itching to share this. Life can seem unfair sometimes but God it can also be bloody wonderful to see so many miracles happen through love and people's kindness. Many challenges still await us but I'm convinced things will continue be as they should be and hopefully my family and I will be better people for it. Sending lots of love and miracles your way today and always xxxx" To see this at Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Rubiola79/posts/10155741132761753 Another thank you from the less important members of the Register for Ruby team as well - every penny donated, every share and every positive thought or message has made such a difference.