N3il's Blog

Over the last 10 years, lots of you have supported me and my family on our journey with cancer, which we as a family have really appreciated. I haven’t posted any updates since October 2016, which is good news as my health has been very stable since then. But I now do have some news to share with you all.

I still have an annual MRI scan and review with the team at Guys Hospital. My latest scan in December was a PET scan, my consultant called me a week later, which was a week before Christmas to let me know that something new had shown up on the scan, but he told me not to worry, as he would see me at our January appointment. So obliviously we didn’t worry much over Christmas! Not!

At the appointment, we were told there were some new areas of interest showing up in my chest and small spots elsewhere that need to be investigated further. My consultant Mr Obholzer also said that after 9 years clear he was surprised something new had now shown up. My case would need to be discussed at the next Multi-Discipline Team (MDT) meeting. We also talked about options. One of those options being a nuclear medicine treatment.

Sue and myself this week met the Nuclear Medicine team to talk about the direction of my treatment and get more information from them. We found out more details about the tumour so I have an area in my chest with larger growth and also have smaller spots on my lungs and on my spine.

The consultant then explained the way ahead. My particular tumour type is slowly growing and can respond well to a treatment with a radioactive drug called ‘Lutahera’. This drug has the ability to target and attach itself to any cancer cells and in turn kills these cells. The treatment will mean me being in hospital for around 24 hrs after a drug infusion and will mean I will be radioactive up to 2 weeks. I can meet with people but need to keep at a 2-meter distance away, Nothing new as we’ve practiced this during lockdown. I am likely to need up to 4 treatments with an 8-week gap between treatments and is unlikely to start until June.

We also found out that Guy’s hospital is the only hospital in the UK that offers this treatment and there are only 2 doctors who specialize in this area of medicine. So I feel very thankful that I am under this great team at Guy’s.

I have felt surprisingly calm and peaceful since finding out his news and understanding the way ahead, as the outlook doesn’t feel quite as daunting, compared to my original diagnosis and treatment which did have a very bleak outlook. As most of you know I have my Christian faith which I believe has got me through the tough times in the past and will get me through these coming months.

I do recall these words from one of my surgeons, Dr. Richard Oakley, who said to me at one of my reviews these words “You’ve had a remarkable recovery and you know, you’re a bit of a miracle!” He then went on to say “and you’ve also dodged a lot of bullets in the process and survived”. I told him “I’m here by the grace of God” after both Sue and myself had a number of conversations with him about our faith over the last couple of years. 

We really have appreciated all the support that so many of you have given us over the last 10 years and we value your ongoing support and prayers over these coming months. I will try to keep you updated on this blog, as and when we have any new news to share with you.

Thanks Neil & Sue

Please watch this video and share it with your friends.

Apparently the White House referred to Christmas Trees as Holiday Trees for the first time this year which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein, to present this piece which The Critical Post Staff would like to share with you. We think it applies just as much to many countries as it does to America …

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren’t allowed to worship God ? I guess that’s a sign that I’m getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it’s not funny, it’s intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham’s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her ‘How could God let something like this happen?’ (regarding Hurricane Katrina).. Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, ‘I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?’

In light of recent events… terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O’Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn’t want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock’s son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said okay.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with ‘WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.’

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you’re not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it…. no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

I saw these pictures in a French Marie Claire Maison magazine at work. Would love to have a big tree in my garden to build a tree house like one of these.