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Original poster

Rachael Bland has days to live...

42 replies

CaveMum · 03/09/2018 15:55

Her tweet just an hour ago is heartbreaking. She has been so vocal about her cancer battle and inspirational in the way she has faced her diagnosis.

My love and thoughts go out to her young family and friends.

OP posts:

shakeatailfeather · 05/09/2018 12:16

It is so very sad, thinking about all her family.

I lost my dh a few months ago to cancer. In his last week he went from being ill, but 'there are options' to you have weeks, possibly days, to dying less than 48 hours later.

Love to all going through it

Balloondog · 05/09/2018 12:20

to you @namechangefriday. Such an inadequate and trite emoticon but I suspect there no adequate words or any form of expression that could truly console. Just wanted to send good wishes to you and your family.

Love and thoughts to Rachael's family too. I followed her podcasts since I first came across them about 8 months ago. She has left behind not just a beautiful family but a brave and lasting legacy. RIP Rachael.

FlamingJuno · 05/09/2018 12:26

It's horrific, for her and for her family. She said in her tweet yesterday that it was "surreal" and I think that must be a very good way of describing it, especially if you don't feel as if you're dying - who knows what that feels like of course? So final and nothing you can do about it - how do you come to terms with that? I'm sure that even though she had a been given a terminal diagnosis some time ago, nobody imagines that it's "tomorrow" or in a "few days".

A friend of mine's husband developed a cough, which he eventually took to the doctor. He was dead three weeks later of lung cancer. His wife said the same thing - it was surreal. Being told that there was nothing to be done, nothing at all, and that he would be dead in a very short space of time made her lightheaded.

Her story has touched so many people, she deserves recognition and remembrance for that, but no doubt she would have traded all that for more time. It's a shame.

namechangefriday · 05/09/2018 12:28

Thank you. I just hope that losing me doesn’t ruin my children’s lives or make them too sad in the future when I’m absent at big events. I can only hope they live great lives despite this. I constantly grieve for what I’m going to miss and my heart is in pieces but still I smile and act as normal as I can around them.

Original poster

CaveMum · 05/09/2018 12:35

I’m so sorry @namechangefriday

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Mrbatmun · 05/09/2018 12:40

She said in her tweet yesterday that it was "surreal" and I think that must be a very good way of describing it, especially if you don't feel as if you're dying - who knows what that feels like of course?

It seems to have happened very quickly in the end, even though she has known her cancer was terminal for a while. In the You Me and the Big C podcast a couple of weeks ago the subject was death and they played a clip of a palliative care nurse describing in quite a lot of detail how people in that situation actually die. It sounded so peaceful. Rachael said it was weird because she didn't feel like she had started the 'dying process' but she said that she wanted to be at home. Her husband said she died peacefully at home and I guess the only thing to hope for is that it was as that nurse described it.

I can't believe she has died actually, her voice has been so familiar to me in the last few months.

Mrbatmun · 05/09/2018 12:40

Lots of love to you @namechangefriday xxx

namechangefriday · 05/09/2018 14:03

Even when you are aware of being terminal it still feels like it’s happening to someone else. Prior knowledge does not make it easier to process.

flyingsaucersherbet · 05/09/2018 14:23

@namechangefriday.

onetimeposter · 05/09/2018 14:29

Love to everyone here affected by cancer. In particular namechangefriday. You have made me count my blessings. Im so sorry x

Original poster

CaveMum · 05/09/2018 16:36

Apparently it his Rachael’s son Freddie’s 3rd birthday in a few days .

Everything you want to say feels so insignificant, but it’s just utterly unfair.

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Elderflower14 · 05/09/2018 16:53

I'm so sorry she has died. I heard her being interviewed on Radio 2 recently and we exchanged tweets. I lost my DP to cancer in January after losing my husband seventeen years ago. My heart aches for Freddie growing up without his Mummy. My son struggled so much when his Dad died.
Friday I'm sending you the biggest hug... 😪 😪

Okeydokeys · 05/09/2018 16:58

namechangefriday. I'm so sorry x

VanillaSugary · 05/09/2018 16:59

I cried when I read this. The poor, poor lady leaving her little boy behind.

DastardlyAndMuttley · 05/09/2018 17:03

RIP Rachel

Thoughts and prayers with you namechange

Harleypuppy · 05/09/2018 18:58

I read how she has wrapped a birthday present from her for every year until he's 21. Heartbreaking. I find it so difficult that an obviously loving mother has died, when my abusive mother is still alive, ( I assume because I haven't seen her for five years. ) It's so unfair.

Powergower · 06/09/2018 08:19

Namechange your posts are so poignant. Thinking of you and sending love. X

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