Hello everyone. My name is Ruairi. I am a hairdresser with 25 years experience living in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne. I am also a cancer survivor. I  was diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2010. I underwent Chemotherapy and 2 years of maintenance therapy/Rituximab. I am starting a new mobile hairdressing service for cancer patients and their families in Melbourne.  My website address is www.rmhair2u.com.au I understand how much hair can affect someone's self esteem and how challenging it can be. My goal is to use my skills to be able to help others going through a difficult time in the comfort of their own home. Regards  Ruairi ... View more

Hello everyone it has been a long time since i have been on this site, in fact i didn't spend much time on here after my initial contact with here but i thought i would update my story and see if it strikes a chord with anyone. I'm a 35 year old male living and working in Melbourne. I have Follicular Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma Stage 4a, with bone marrow involved. I finished my chemotherapy at the end of January, 2011 so it has been almost one year since it ended. I've been very well since. I am now on the maintenance program which involves rituximab a.k.a mabthera once every 3 months for 2 years so i am due to finish this in May 2013. I had a good chat with my Oncologist in my last visit, asked him simply if i still have cancer. He said yes, that the Lymphoma cells are active, but the Rituximab keeps them in a dormant state and the key factor for me is how long the cells stay dormant. My guy doesn't use the word remission because he thinks it lures people into a false sense of being cured. I'm a realist so i definitely appreciate the straight talking approach. 2011 was quite the year as my wife and i had a baby! Our little girl was born in June and is thriving! I found though after the birth of our daughter that the fear factor returned with a vengeance, obviously because now had the complete reason to survive and live a long life. I attended a couple of group support sessions with the Leukemia foundation, met some great people but did find the majority of the group, in fact all of them were elderly people. While i would never belittle their own journey i didn't get a lot out of it as i felt like i didn't have a lot in common because i was so much younger. I certainly have no issue with discussing cancer with any age group but it occurred to me that it would sometimes be good to be able to connect with younger people who have it and get their perspectives on the whole journey. Regards to everyone and will make more of an effort to log in here and keep up to date with people. Ruairi ... View more

Hello everyone. My name is Ruairi and i am a 34 year old male living in Northern Suburbs in Melbourne. I was recently diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma/Stage 4a and my bone marrow is involved as well. I underwent my first round of Chemotherapy yesterday and it was certainly a long day! About 2 months ago i was shaving to go to work and i noticed a lump on the upper left side of my neck. I didn't like the look of it and so i went to my local GP who referred me to have an ultra sound and bloodwork done. Bloodwork came back clear however the ultrasound showed there was a 3.8cm lymph node in my neck. I then had a fine needle biopsy done and then a CT scan. I should mention that i married my beautiful wife 6 weeks ago and all of this was going on around it. I had the CT scan done the day before our wedding and then i had a surgical biopsy done the Tuesday after so not a long honeymoon! It did not impact on our big day though as we were both determined to fully enjoy it and we had the most amazingly fun wedding day!! When i got the results of the surgical biopsy they told me i had Follicular Lymphoma STage 4a and the B Cell type. It was very scary for us both to say the least and a major shock. One of the ironies of all this is that i had absolutely no symptoms prior to spotting the lump on my neck. It is bizarre to be told that your sick when you don't feel sick! So i started my chemo yesterday. My wife and i went in at 8.30am and we left at 5.30pm so it was a long tiring day, with a lot of information given to us and obviously the treatment as well. I got through it all quite well, apart from a reaction to Rituximab, where i got a rash on my face but my wife a.k.a CEO as she likes to call herself) spotted it immediately and alerted the nurses. They gave me some fenurgin and it went within 15 mins. My next treatment is scheduled for 3 weeks time and should only go for about 3 hours. I guess i am writing on here to touch base with other people in a similar situation to myself. Also to let people know that starting chemo is not as daunting as it sounds. I was quite nervous beforehand but overall i was relatively comfortable yesterday, i had my normal appetite and apart from the sitting which wasn't too bad as my wife was with me, it was not nearly as frightening as i thought it might be. As for everyone starting chemo, it is unchartered territory for us but i feel good in general and as long as i don't feel sick i am not going to act it! Would love to hear back from other people and if i can offer any of my experiences i would be more than happy to. ... View more

Hello everyone. My name is Ruairi and i am a 34 year old male living in Northern Suburbs in Melbourne. I was recently diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma/Stage 4a and my bone marrow is involved as well. I underwent my first round of Chemotherapy yesterday and it was certainly a long day! About 2 months ago i was shaving to go to work and i noticed a lump on the upper left side of my neck. I didn't like the look of it and so i went to my local GP who referred me to have an ultra sound and bloodwork done. Bloodwork came back clear however the ultrasound showed there was a 3.8cm lymph node in my neck. I then had a fine needle biopsy done and then a CT scan. I should mention that i married my beautiful wife 6 weeks ago and all of this was going on around it. I had the CT scan done the day before our wedding and then i had a surgical biopsy done the Tuesday after so not a long honeymoon! It did not impact on our big day though as we were both determined to fully enjoy it and we had the most amazingly fun wedding day!! When i got the results of the surgical biopsy they told me i had Follicular Lymphoma STage 4a and the B Cell type. It was very scary for us both to say the least and a major shock. One of the ironies of all this is that i had absolutely no symptoms prior to spotting the lump on my neck. It is bizarre to be told that your sick when you don't feel sick! So i started my chemo yesterday. My wife and i went in at 8.30am and we left at 5.30pm so it was a long tiring day, with a lot of information given to us and obviously the treatment as well. I got through it all quite well, apart from a reaction to Rituximab, where i got a rash on my face but my wife a.k.a CEO as she likes to call herself) spotted it immediately and alerted the nurses. They gave me some fenurgin and it went within 15 mins. My next treatment is scheduled for 3 weeks time and should only go for about 3 hours. I guess i am writing on here to touch base with other people in a similar situation to myself. Also to let people know that starting chemo is not as daunting as it sounds. I was quite nervous beforehand but overall i was relatively comfortable yesterday, i had my normal appetite and apart from the sitting which wasn't too bad as my wife was with me, it was not nearly as frightening as i thought it might be. As for everyone starting chemo, it is unchartered territory for us but i feel good in general and as long as i don't feel sick i am not going to act it! Would love to hear back from other people and if i can offer any of my experiences i would be more than happy to. ... View more