which being a control freak was new to me. I'd had retirement forced upon me and I was at quite a loss to know what to d
Alan Chant, Berkshire Research changed my life because... after an intense period of hospitalisation it’s given me direction in life and provided a reason for being I live in Berkshire, and in March 2011 I suddenly collapsed with a spinal tumour, I was operated on immediately, and told I had multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer. Whilst I was having scans and chemotherapy after the operation, they also detected a mass on my left kidney, which was also removed. Unfortunately this lead me to staying in hospital for some seventeen weeks. When I came out of hospital, not only had I experienced a great physical upset, mentally my life had suddenly stopped. Up until then I’d been operating at a very senior level in business, very much goal orientated and then suddenly that stopped and I was coping with a new situation. From being in control, I had lack of control and also an increase in uncertainty for the future, which being a control freak was new to me. I’d had retirement forced upon me and I was at quite a loss to know what to do with the rest of my life. That’s when I had my light-bulb moment. Up until then I’d been a victim of my circumstance, but what I realised was what I gained along the way was quite a lot of good patient experiences. I could put these to good effect and though it sounds like a terrible cliché I wanted to give something back to So, my involvement in research was altruistic, the NHS. to give something back for the good care I had received, but it was also personal to get my life What I needed was some sort of structure and back on track and to add value to it. direction to be injected back into my life. And when I looked at the part I could play using my I hope that this will be an example to other patient experiences and research skills, it was people who are looking for some opportunity to research that gave me the ability to restructure my restructure and rebuild their lives after the sort of life and a reason for being. period of hospitalisation I’ve had.
