When her sister’s cancer returned for the third time, coinciding with the coronavirus lockdown, Jade Angeles Fitton was forced to confront a familiar foe as well as a new one.
My sister has always been my “big sister”. By the time I was born, Charlotte was already 19. She has carried me: literally, when I was little, and in many other ways as I have grown up.
Ten years ago Charlotte, who had been suffering from back pain for several months, was finally diagnosed with myeloma, a form of blood cancer. The treatment was gruelling. Once it was over Charlotte had to use a walking stick. After a prolonged and determined recovery, she managed to lose it. Charlotte is way up there in the top-risk category when it comes to Covid-19. She has blood cancer, and the steroids she has been taking up until recently mean that her immune system is suppressed, as does the ongoing chemotherapy. As part of her treatment, and one of the most important parts of it, she was due to have an autologous stem cell transplant a couple of weeks ago.
This is a prospect she has accepted with stereotypical pragmatism . She certainly won’t be able to attend large gatherings, like the wedding my partner and I have planned for this autumn. That my big sister is not going to be there when I get married seems beyond belief. But then, isn’t all of this? I console myself with the mantra: all that matters is that we make it through this with our lives. A privilege so many have not been afforded.
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