Life was peachy . . .

Life was going well, my children were growing up, so I had more time for myself and was able to take short breaks, chill at night, I even took up exercise.

Feeling unwell

But in April last year, I went away to Amsterdam with my husband for a few days and was tired the whole time. We would literally have a meal and go back to our hotel straight away which was unusual for us.

When my foot started to swell up, I blamed city break walking!

I also had weird rash on my neck which I put down to my bag strap rubbing, but when I got back home the swelling on my foot worsened.

Not wishing to let my customers and staff down, I returned to work and at the end of the day my foot was so sore, I decided to visit A and E, despite it being my anniversary. My diagnosis was a foot sprain, and I was prescribed pain killers.

The following day my foot looked massive; it was really swollen, I self-diagnosed cellulitis.

Despite this, I went to work again but could hardly walk so I ended up returning to A and E where I was instructed to rest my foot and advised that it was probably water retention.

I wasn’t myself

I continued working despite being extremely tired and drained, my foot was now enormous and still sore.

I kept putting my foot in water to try and stop the swelling wondering if I had been bitten in Amsterdam and that perhaps my foot was infected and may need antibiotics to clear it up.

On my way back from work I popped to my local chemist and explained what had been happening. The pharmacist advised me to go straight to A and E because they thought I needed antibiotics straight away.

The A and E and doctor was great, and I was prescribed antibiotics and subsequently my foot cleared up. However, I was still tired, I still didn’t’ feel like myself. I also still had the strange rash on my neck and lumps had appeared as well.

Another visit, this time to my emergency doctor as I couldn’t get an appointment with my own doctor for two weeks. I was examined and told to return if things didn’t improve within two weeks.

I don’t usually visit the doctor, but I was becoming increasingly worried, so I made an appointment and was given a steroid cream for my rash. The doctor believed I had an inflamed ear and prescribed antibiotics for this.

I was booked in for routine blood tests a week later, but days beforehand bruising appeared on my body.

The big C diagnosis

On the morning of Monday 23^rd May, I had my blood test and received a call from the blood lab at 10 pm the same night advising me that my bloods were not what they should be and that my doctor would contact me the next day.

I knew something was wrong but had to wait for the call.

I went into Whiston hospital the next day where more blood tests were performed, and the medical staff informed me that they suspected I had some form of blood cancer.

Over the next few days, I had more tests including bone marrow and numerous other things and I was finally diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML).

This type of leukaemia is aggressive, so chemotherapy had to be started as soon as possible.

Hairless, not me!

It was a lot to take in but aside from not being well, all I could think about was losing my hair!

I was approaching my 40^th birthday and as I am an active hairdresser, I didn’t feel that being hairless was an option for me.

I began frantically researching, so I would know what to expect; I wanted to be prepared for the inevitable.

I decided not to shave my head so my hair would fall out naturally and I would avoid the discomfort of an itchy scalp, this was a personal decision.

I then started to look for wigs, eyebrow solutions and ordered strip eyelashes, but as you can imagine this takes time and some of the items I ordered weren’t as good as others, so it was a bit of trial and error.

Finally, I was happy with my kit, I had also watched numerous videos online, I was as ready as I could be.

Supporting cancer, alopecia, lives and people (SCALP)

The reason I wanted to start SCALP was to help other people going through the trauma of coming to terms with hair loss and the mental stress this causes.

It’s a long road but with help, support and guidance it can be a lot easier.

“With all the pressures currently on the NHS, there it is not always time for providing the emotional support that is needed for someone contemplating hair loss” Victoria

I had many so many questions but didn’t want to bother the medical staff.

Will a wig suit me? How and when will my hair grow back? Can you colour or cut a wig? Will my eyebrows come back? Will people be able to tell I have no hair? Will my partner still find me attractive? The list went on!

Through SCALP, I hope to answer all these questions and more, so I can help other people on their own hair loss journey.

It’s good to talk

Anyone that knows me will know that I’m a sun worshipper but unfortunately sunbeds are no longer on the cards post chemo. So, my sunbed room in Leyland is set to become my new private consultation room where I hope to speak to hair loss sufferers in confidence offering them some extra help and support.

Support will also be available via my new private Facebook group.