“It all started with a lump, a lump on my back… a lump that was not that easy to really understand because it was not hurting. It was not doing anything.”
In 2020, Clarel’s lump led him to his GP and his unexpected soft tissue cancer diagnosis. At just 38 years old and with a wife and five-year-old daughter, Clarel went ahead with treatment and surgery, and is thankfully now in remission. This is his story.
“The best thing I could do with the lump was to get checked up by my GP. And that was the greatest thing I ever did, to be honest,” recalls.
“If we were not able to find it earlier, I would have actually maybe been in a very different situation.
“I had to go for MRI and CT scan to really understand what was happening with the lump, and it turned out to be a soft tissue sarcoma.
“I went in for radiotherapy for about a month. It was really successful; the tumour did shrink.
“The doctors worked really well with the surgeon to understand how the cancer was working, how the sarcoma itself was traveling around the body, to understand exactly how to minimise or even lower the risk of injury or complications happening.”
After radiotherapy, Clarel struggled with staying home for one month, saying that he just wanted to get back on his feet.
“As a young man, it gets pretty hard to sit down at home and not do anything. But you have to understand your body can’t push, so you have to really make sure you do actually give your body what it’s actually asking you.
“After going through radiotherapy for one month, I had one month of rest, followed with the resection of the cancer just before Christmas and my birthday. It was emotionally hard being a father and not having the ability to engage with the family as needed.”
The recovery was mentally and physically tough with barriers that I’ve never encountered in my life before, fortunately I was surrounded with some really amazing family, friends, medical team and schoolteachers that strengthened my motivation to go through.”
Through everything, Clarel had his daughter Clara by his side, something he appreciates even now.
“She was the real angel of my life, like even my saviour, I would say, giving me a lot of motivation, providing daddy support… singing every day—singing, dancing and keeping everyone happy. I don’t know how to say thank you to her to be honest.”
As well as being grateful for his daughter’s support, Clarel has plenty of thank-you’s for not only his team of doctors, but for his community and for everyone who is supporting Daffodil Day.
“Thank you for your generosity and providing such amazing support during the Daffodil Day appeal. Your support will be providing amazing support to people going through cancer so thank you… Thanks a bunch.”
Give what you can this Daffodil Day to help give more than hope to families like Clarel’s.
