'I was diagnosed 9 yrs ago with follicular lymphoma. It's a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and one of the lymphomas that's unlikely to be cured. I was told that I had 5-7 years to live and my husband was told that he should be prepared to be a single parent. I changed my superannuation fund to one that would suit a shorter longevity. I tried to protect my family from the doctors and their diagnosis, tried to stop showing how awful I felt, and tried to keep soldiering on - as us Mums do.

'To be honest, it was difficult. I had two courses of chemotherapy over 3 years and then ended up having a stem cell transplant. I had all the preliminary chemotherapy in my home town but had to travel to a specialist centre, 4,000 kilometres away, for the "big" transplant. It was hard being away from my family, but I had a little girl aged 6 years and had to focus on her and on her stability.

'I survived the transplant and am in remission now. My husband has had a lot to deal with, too, and sometimes we find it difficult to communicate. But I think we can work it out. I tried to protect him from the hurt and pain and probably should have shared it with him more. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I hope you can draw some inspiration from my story.'