AFTER some new scan results, we now have confirmation that Greg will be restarting chemotherapy in January.

I’m so glad we get to have Christmas without treatment and hospital appointments interfering but this is a daunting prospect. Before Greg’s first round of chemo, we were numb with shock from the diagnosis, naïve to what the treatment would entail but also eager to start the fight.

This time, we are going in tired after a long and hard year with a solemn understanding of what undergoing this treatment will mean physically and mentally.

It’s a hard slog, especially for Greg who has to endure all of the symptoms and side effects. I have my own set of challenges in this situation – to see him in discomfort is unbearable and to keep everything running smoothly while I am a full time nurse and mum is hard.

The benefit of having done this all before is I am able to prepare more effectively. We have time to spare but I have already started assembling my A Team. These are my people, the ones who get me through the hard stuff. Members of my team have different qualities – some organise a Christmas meal, some spring a surprise box of chocolates and bottle of wine on us, some send me ridiculous pictures of cats and dogs to make me laugh. The A Team are a mixture of different people – family who tirelessly support us, old friends who have gravitated back into my orbit and new people who have appeared and miraculously want to get involved with my crazy life.

It’s the new people in my life I feel the most profound gratitude for; they have no reason to jump on this runaway ghost train but here they are, strapped in next to me, ready to hold my hand on the bumpy ride. They aren’t afraid by the madness that surrounds me when I myself am terrified. It’s not always those who you think will appear when you need them that do, it may be strangers who turn up just at the right time. I now have people surrounding me who I may have known for 20 seconds but feel like I’ve known a lifetime. This is an incredibly precious gift and I feel safer and confident going into another battle knowing they will be sending me nonsense at midnight just to make me smile.

l Stacey Heale has put her career as a fashion lecturer on hold to focus on her two lively little girls and fiancé, Delays frontman Greg Gilbert, who was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in November 2016. She launched the viral campaign Give4Greg to raise funds for lifesaving treatment: gofundme.com/give4greg

You can read more at her blog beneaththeweather.com