A bit more about me…

When I asked my Instagram followers what they’d like to see on the blog, this seemed to be what was requested! So here goes! I’m going to stop by 5 important things about me:

1. How did I get interested in science?
Well… this is a bit of a daft story… but I was watching TV about 5 years ago, and there was a show called Stand Up To Cancer. During this show, I naively thought ‘how can they not have cured it yet… it can’t be that hard?’. Ha ha ha… Let’s all laugh together!!!
However, this did pique my interest in science and I bought myself a book called ‘Cancer: A Beginners Guide’. I was able to understand most of it, but I realised there were (obviously) huge gaps in my knowledge. I then started to google some of the terms, and started to make sense of things and this just got me more and more hooked.
Having established that this wasn’t just a whim, I spent some time researching how to go about getting in to cancer research as a career. It transpired, having no relevant A Levels, that I would need to go to college to do an Access to Higher Education course which would then allow me to (hopefully) get in to university.
So that’s what I did. I obtained 45/45 credits at distinction, and this got me a place at the University of Bristol to study Cancer Biology. Goal achieved… tick!

2. Personal life
I often brush over this part of my life, but it’s probably worth mentioning some other big decisions I had been making around the same time as all of the college/uni stuff. I was actually engaged at the age of 23, and during my engagement I started to see a different side to my fiancé… one that was turning out to be a little too traditional and linear for my liking. Once we were married (at the age of 25) I was to stop having any ambitions and start popping out babies (or so my fiancé thought). This didn’t sit well with me, unsurprisingly. I am naturally quite an ambitious person, I often jump on an idea and work tirelessly until it’s finished. This has it’s pros and cons, but it is just part of who I am. If I see/think of something good, I run at it full speed.
So I had applied to college and been offered a place to start in September 2015, however, around the same time as this I found myself having doubts about spending the rest of my life with this man who didn’t want to see me (or let me for that matter) achieve my goals. Eventually I came to my senses and called it a day with him, but this bought with it some delays in getting started at college, and eventually started in September 2016.

3. Hobbies
Well… where to start!! I’d say my most consistent hobby has been crafts, I like anything based around thread, fabric and design so this could be sewing, crochet, embroidery, sketching or painting. I go through phases of having a main interest but it’s always based around these core themes.

I also like a lot of activity based things! I started climbing recently and once I got over the horror of having to get down from the top of the wall, I felt such a sense of achievement.

4. What did I do before this?
I’ve had all your typical jobs like working in a cafe and a call centre. I will always regret turning down a job as a Christmas elf in Santas grotto, and I frequently kick myself for not going to the interview I had with MI5 when I was 21.

However, I have also had a reasonably unconventional career for most of my twenties… from the age of 21 I ran my own driving school for 6 years. When I qualified I was the youngest driving instructor in the country! I really don’t remember what made me want to get in to this in high school, other than the fact I loved my driving lessons! I really really loved my time doing this job and made a few incredible friends. But as we know, all good things must come to an end. By the time I’d discovered my love for science, and postponed starting my journey by a year I was more than ready to put this job to bed.

5. Future goals
CURE CANCER! Well, that’s what I would have said if you’d asked me 5 years ago, when I first saw Stand Up To Cancer. I now realise it is infinitely more complex than finding a single cure. Every type of cancer is individual, and every type of cancer in every different person is unique… so having a ‘one cure fits all’ approach is going to prove a little challenging. You know how they say ‘change the plan not the goal’? Well, I’m going to be a little rebel and change that goal… So, with that in mind I would like love to contribute in some way to finding a cure for a cancer. Whether this is researching a cause or a potential therapy, this is the area I want to be involved in. During my time at Bristol I was also exposed briefly to an area of science called developmental biology… this BLEW MY MIND, so there’s a possibility I would like to move more in that direction as I progress on my journey. And I’ve always been intrigued by paediatric cancers… so who knows, maybe I’ll end up overlapping them in some way in the future.

So that’s me in a nutshell! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading 🙂