My mum’s breast cancer came back a month ago - it’s stage 4 and it’s metastasised to her bones. Her life expectancy is about 6 months without treatment. She has triple negative breast cancer which is rarer, more aggressive and significantly harder to treat than the more common hormone-responsive breast cancers.

There’s a new immunotherapy drug, pembrolizumab, which is effective on advanced triple negative breast cancer when given alongside standard chemotherapy. But it costs £3000 per treatment and she needs 18 rounds of it. Her oncologist applied for funding and got it!

After 6 months of treatment my mum should have 23 months of “progression free survival” compared to 16 months if she had chemo alone. She’s only 57 so every extra day I can have my mum in life is truly a gift. I’m so so grateful for our NHS.

[–] 36 points 3 years ago (3 children)

Same here. Our core values are the same, but our personal interests are very different. Our personalities are quite different too, but they’re complimentary. What one of us needs, the other can provide. We’re both better together.

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  • [–] [S] 0 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    This is probably a stupid question but do they have running water? I assume they can use generators or solar if they’re not on the power grid, septic tank, satellite internet. But water seems tricky. And mail, but I guess you collect it from town. And how far is town? Surely an hours drive would be the limit of what’s reasonable?

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 3 years ago (2 children)

    I was raised catholic. Nursery, primary, high school and sixth form. Church every week. Extra lessons at the church in preparation for the sacraments. I was even an altar server for a time. I think I must have pretty lucky with the parish priest/my teachers though because I the most important thing that was drilled into us was the “golden rule” - treat others as you wish to be treated. Even as a child I knew the Old Testament stories were just that - stories. We were never ever taught that god hated anyone no matter what. We were also taught about other religions and not in “these idiots got it wrong” way. Judaism and Islam were taught as basically the same as Christianity but with a different idea of who Jesus was. I took Christian theology and philosophy A level and had a fantastic teacher. We spent hours debating the existence of god and we were never told we were wrong if we no longer believed by then. There’s a name for it I’ve forgotten now, but we compared the gospels to look for inconsistencies and examined what that meant for their validity. You were never expected just to believe for beliefs sake. I’m not catholic anymore, I have too many issues with the Church. But it’s shocking how unchristian the current brand of American fundamental/evangelical Christians are. It’s just so far from anything I was ever taught.

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  • [–] [S] 16 points 3 years ago (6 children)

    Definition of an “ig baddie” for anyone like me who didn’t know:

    An Instagram Baddie can be defined as a woman who almost always looks "flawless." They're known for high follower counts, fan pages, and modernized fashion sense. Many instagram baddies are influencers, meaning clothing and makeup brands reach out to them for promotion

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