Hello, I’m Imogen better known as Immy. I’m married, and I have a son and 2 step daughters. I’m a Producer for a National Opera Company, living in South Wales , and the reason I’m here, writing (!!) is due to the fact that I’m also currently undergoing treatment for stage IV melanoma. As a lot of newly diagnosed cancer patients do, I needed somewhere to document and off load what I was going through. I’ve never been much of a writer, and don’t think I’m very good at it, but at the beginning this seemed to be the most efficient way of keeping friends and family updated with the forever changing “journey” that is cancer treatment.

I was initially diagnosed with stage II melanoma (a mole on my back, that was surgically removed) in October 2014. Treatment was over and done with by Christmas of that year, and life pretty much went back to normal immediately. Then in June 2019, I was unexpectedly diagnosed with metastasized (spread of the original cancer cells) melanoma, now in my lungs. I had no symptoms, it was picked up on a routine MRI scan for something entirely separate. Then kicked off the worst two weeks of my life, before I got on the treatment train. Melanoma is a notoriously aggressive and unpredictable type of skin cancer, which can return years after an initial diagnosis for no rhyme or reason. In the past, the odds for stage IV melanoma survival have been pretty dire – some people initially wanted to give me anything from 9 months to a year. However, luckily for me, I’ve been diagnosed at an exciting time with regards to cutting edge developments in immunotherapy, and various other treatment options. This means that (some) people are surviving! And this is obviously all that matters to me right now.

I have decided to make this diary-type blog public, for two reasons mainly. On the outside I look well, and I have found it particularly difficult carrying on over the past 10 months pretending like everything in my life is normal. It’s tricky keeping up the act with work colleagues, friends from home and also afar, the wider social media community etc. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me, but I do want people to understand why I haven’t been as “on it” in work, or as present at events and functions. Secondly, I wonder if anyone – maybe just one single newly diagnosed person – will see this. When I was told I had cancer in my lungs, that I might have to have surgery, lung dissections, whole hosts of treatments and hospital stays, all I wanted to do was find someone my age who was going through the same thing. I wanted to feel less alone, and I desperately needed to know what to expect of the coming months. Thank goodness for blogging and social media. I have found some truly inspirational individuals, all over the world, who have shared their experiences, and I can’t begin to explain what a comfort it has been knowing that there are others out there like me, going through the same thing.