Mel O'Neill, from Penketh, gives her final Warrington blog

I STARTED blogging for the Warrington Guardian 12 years ago in August.

During that time I went through various traumas including a horrific car crash that left me hospitalised for a month with two brain bleeds, my husband being stabbed in the neck and coming dangerously close to being killed through no fault of his own, attending that fatal night at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester when a suicide bomber killed 22 people, injuring many more and with all this to contend with I was living with stage four inflammatory breast cancer having many different chemotherapies at The Christie Hospital in Manchester.

Cancer was the reason I began blogging, firstly writing about having a day out at Christies with a packed lunch and film to watch on my chemo days. Little did I know I’d be given bad news time and time again as every chemotherapy I tried failed and my oncologist searched vigorously for other options be it light therapy, surgery or a different type of chemo to prolong my life. He was always honest with me but I asked him never to tell me my prognosis as I was determined to see my kids grow up and didn’t want any glimmer in my own imagination, to be destroyed.

The pain in my heart was the worse pain I have ever felt, worse than any physical pain I have ever experienced thinking of my own funeral often when going to other cancer patients funerals who became friends along the way, fearing it would be my funeral next and imagining the devastation of my loved ones and how it would affect them for the rest of their lives.

If I had allowed it, cancer would have destroyed my soul but instead I chose to read about survival methods and survivors stories as well as holistic therapies as well as spirituality, diet and wellness. I pursued many alternative methods I read would help alongside my medical treatment but often when the burden became too heavy to hold and I felt like my tears would drown me, I turned to my computer and I blogged.

I wrote about my anguish, my tears, my thoughts and by the end of each blog, I’d realise I can get through this, it was just another hurdle to get over, that there were many others in far worse scenarios than me and I would dig deep and complete every blog feeling much better than when I started.

Mel O'Neill with her two daughters

After winning the Warrington Guardian Inspiration award for courage, I proudly and through my emotional speech dedicated it to the help and support of WG journalist Hannah Bargery who allowed me to write my blogs and who would help in checking them through and loading them onto the WG online page as I no longer had the memory or ability to do this after the car crash.

I would now like to thank Gareth Dunning for his time and patience since Hannah moved departments. He has read each blog and corrected any mistakes I may have made on my behalf. I don’t think they both understand the life line they have given me when allowing me to write as I was able to unburden my worries, my worst nightmares and my fear of death and by sharing it with others and receiving so many well-wishes I realised I was helping others too. Others with and without cancer but those who were struggling, I was helping them to realise they were not alone and that someone else was brave enough to write about her experiences, sharing it with others and see that life wasn’t so bad after all, even with cancer in tow.

So after almost 12 years with cancer, nine-and-a-half years on chemo, two years on the anti-cancer drug Herceptin, two brain bleeds, lymphedema in my arm, neuropathy in my toes, ulcers in my mouth and the last five months on no treatment at all, I am cancer free. My wish is that I remain this way becoming more and more happy and contented with my life more than I have ever been before but I am also aware that cancer can rear its ugly head at any moment in the foreseeable future,

With that in mind, I am making the most of every second that I get to inhale and exhale knowing how grateful I am for every morning I get to wake up and see the amazing young ladies my daughters are becoming…a sight I feared the most that cancer would take from me.

As I throw myself wholeheartedly into helping others with their skincare and makeup concerns becoming a Tropic’s ambassador and immersing myself into Trish Murray’s (my friend) new venture Be a Lady as their makeup artist, I struggle to share the trials and tribulations I once had as a daily occurrence as I just don’t have them anymore. I have no worries to unburden as nothing could compare to the years of mental torture I felt compelled to write about over my many years with cancer.

I’m so happy these blogs have helped so many get through troubled times but I don’t think anyone will ever know how much the WG, its readers and its staff have helped me. So for now I am sliding my computer keyboard away and keeping everything crossed that the cancer stays asleep.

Life is only ever what we make it and perceive it be. Make the right choice and live your best life. Nobody knows what’s waiting for us around the corner.