The End of the Line: Archiving This Blog

Hello, everyone. I'm sorry for not updating - as always I have no excuse, but we're here now. This post will be my final post on this blog; It is now going to be an archive, so that everyone can read back on my posts when they wish to, but it will not be updated any further.

I want to start this post off by thanking you all for your unwavering support. Without your prayers, your love and your kindness, I believe that I wouldn't be where I am right now.

As of today, the 9th of February, 2017, I am officially cancer free. 

It's been a long, hard road. I like to think I've made the best of it, but as you can imagine, I'm glad it's over!! Cancer is a hard journey to go through - But through it all I have had so many amazing people standing alongside me and for that, I am ever grateful. I don't now how I can repay you all; I hope that my words, my thanks, will be enough. It might seem like nothing, but please know: You have changed a young girl's life.

When all this started, if I can be fully honest; I was unsure of whether or not I'd ever get to visit Iceland again, or go back to school, or chase my dreams the way I wanted to. I wasn't sure if I would make it through all this - my largest tumour was 12cm in diameter and had put so much pressure on my lung that it had partially collapsed. I was so scared - and in times of fear, we don't know what may happen.

Thankfully, God is good. My friends are good. My family are good - life is good. And there was always a plan for me. Now, I am sitting in front of my laptop, like any normal teenager would - I have some old, used dishes that I really need to take downstairs, (sorry, mum) my cat beside me, and everything just seems so... normal. You wouldn't think that, in some ways, I had stared death in the face, because here I am: out the other side.

I remember sitting in hospital ward A3, at 2 o'clock in the morning, with a fever - and my biggest fear, then, was getting my bloods taken. Looking back on everything I have been through, it seems so blurred - so hazy. And so, so far away.

I'm not complaining, however!

No, this chapter of my life is, in some ways, one that I hope to forget very, very soon. But in other ways - I hope it's one I'll never forget. I never want to forget the outpouring of love for me, or the amazing people I met through my journey. I never want to forget the kindness, the smiles, the love and the support. I know this chapter of my life, though hard, has bettered me.

My perspective on life has changed greatly since my diagnosis. Life is a new gift to me - and I have a perspective not many people my age do. With my life - the remainder, I could say, but I prefer to say the entirety - I am going to do what I love. After all, if you do what you love, you love what you do.

I am going to chase my dreams, be myself, and make myself happy. I am going to give my love to others. I am going to travel, and speak languages, and draw, and do everything that makes me happy.

Because I deserve it. Not just me - everyone deserves happiness.

Remember that, if nothing else, from this blog; We are in this together. We are all wonderful... And we all deserve happiness.

Thankyou for reading my blog on the way through. It will now be archived, but I hope you will take heart in every letter I have typed.

Much love, and many thanks,

Lana Douglas.