Following the recent death of my father due to rectal cancer I am absolutely gutted about the whole process and treatment he received.

Whilst everyone enduring this terrible disease has a big enough battle to fight the other battles throughout the treatments is like an endurance test for the patient and their family.

We felt we hit brick walls wherever we turned and help was at best minimal. 

Misdiagnosis, lost paperwork, forgotten referrals, wrong treatment, insensitive care, the list is endless and whilst the specifics I won't share because I will be following up I have learned something that I feel is worthy advice.

Keep records of treatment, procedures, meetings, anything really.

Double check everything you can.

Follow up things if you haven't heard back in a reasonable time frame.

Ask about something if you don't understand.

Question things if your not sure they are right.

I am devastated that whilst I was able to be there every step of the way for my Dad that there are people who don't have friends or relatives fighting their corner and that's scary.

One of the hardest battles is to be able to live with cancer. By that I mean take the good times whilst you can. So much time is lost waiting, hanging around, waiting on results, waiting on scans, waiting for appointments, waiting for results. Waiting for treatment, you can easily get caught in a trap that even years can pass and you have spent that time one way or another in a que.

What is incredibly frustrating is that in an era of instant communication the slowest news is the most important.

Don't get caught in a trap of thinking you have to put your whole life on hold to fight the battle as it's the life that your putting on hold that will give you the strength to fight.