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Ickle' Lee was dignosed with Hodgkin's Disease, a kind of cancer. He got it when he was nearly nine and the second time when he was fifteen.It was horrible! Lee used to come home from school each day and lie on the couch and will soon fell asleep. Mysterious nosebleeds and a lump on his neck told his mom, Una that something was seriously wrong.He was only 8 when Hodgkin's Disease was first dignosed. He had that chemo-therapy that makes all his hair fall out and make his cute chubby cheeks goes really thin. When he was eight, he only weighs 2 and a half stone. He had to be in a wheelchair because he couldn't even hold up his head! He missed 4 years of school and didn't go out of the house for a year. However, he's the likable one in school coz he used to sit next to the teachers and they would pass him sweets under the table! (If only I had teachers like that!) Still, Lee thinks it's because that he had cancer.That's why everybody looked out for him. As well as chemotheraphy, he had to take 18 pills a day. A series of operations then followed.When Lee told Jimmy and Spike, they didn't know what to say and just looked down.It used to bother Lee but it doesn't now. He treat it as any other question. He's alright now but still have to go for checkups every once a year. Besides,he got Jimmy,Spike and the fans to toughen him up too! He really thinks that his personality will be a lot of different if he didn't had cancer. Just a reminder, if you happened to spot a scar just under his chin, make sure you don't bring the subject up. He is rather sensative about it
Wanna know more about how Lee went through cancer? Here's his experience in his own words.....
“I Beat Cancer To Storm The Charts”
When he was at school, Lee Brennan from 911 had cancer. And he beat it – twice. J17 talks exclusively to the cute popster about the disease that almost took his life…
You’re 21 now Lee, but how old were you when doctors first diagnosed you as having cancer?
“I was eight. I’d had a temperature for a couple of days and had been off school. When my mom was checking my glands she noticed some lumps, so she took me to the doctor who sent me to hospital in Newcastle. I don’t think they thought it was cancer at first, but a week later they took a closer look and that’s when they realised it was Hodgkin’s disease, a cancer which affects your glands. Then they put me on a course of chemotherapy.”
What was that like?
“The solution was so strong, it was put into a drip that washed through my body. When it hit me, I was sick straightaway. The treatment was really painful. After chemo, you have three or four days where all you can do is lie in bed and vomit. But there’s nothing inside you ‘cause you’re too weak to eat, so you just bring up phlegm. On top of that, I had to take 18 pills a day. I lost loads of weight and my hair fell out. It got worse though. I was only eight, but I went down to something like two and a half stone in weight and had to use a wheelchair.”
Were you scared?
“I was out of it most the time. When my condition got worse, I was moved from the childrens’ ward to a little room by myself. I remember being in the room thinking, ‘Why am I on my own?’. I thought I had something contagious. I asked my mum if I was going to die and she said no.”
What was it like when your hair fell out?
“A few days after I started the chemo I woke up one morning and there was hair all over the pillow. I was eight, so I wasn’t really that bothered ‘cause a lot of my mates had skinhead haircuts. I remember going home for a couple of days and my sister brushing clumps of my hair out. She called me Baldilocks for ages.”
Did you feel really self-conscious?
“I never went out without a hat. Even when I had a skinhead I was scared to reveal all ‘cause I was worried what people would think. If my cap fell off when I was at school, people would just stare at me.”
How long was it before you were given the all-clear?
“After six months of treatment I had to go back to hospital for regular X-rays and blood tests. At first it was once a fortnight, then it was monthly, then every three months. Then I had to have a lumbar puncture, where they extract fluid from your spine to check the cancer hasn’t spread to your brain. But I was alright.”
Was it tough going back to school?
“I finally went back when I was nine, after being away for six months. I wore a cap, and my mum warned the school that I wouldn’t take it off because I didn’t have any hair. But the very first teacher I saw didn’t know and asked me to take it off in class. I got really upset, said, ‘No, I can’t’ and ran out. When I did games outside in the wind I’d tie a scarf round it and under my chin.”
When did you find out the cancer was back?
“When I was 14 I started feeling tired in lessons the whole time. Mum was worried about me and feared the worst, so she checked for lumps and sent me straight back to my specialist for tests.”
Where were you when you were told the second time?
“I was at home watching TV when Mum answered the phone and said, ‘Hello Dr Craft. Yeah…yeah…yeah.’ Then she put the phone down and just said, ‘It’s back.’”
How did you feel? “I ran upstairs to my room, threw myself on my bed with my head in the pillow and cried my eyes out. My dad came up, sat down beside me and said, ‘Don’t worry. You’ve been through it once, you can beat it again. You know we are all behind you.’”
Was it better or worse second time around?
“Worse, because I knew more about it. I was really worried about losing my hair and what people would think. The doctor told me there was a different treatment that wouldn’t make my hair fall out, which I thought sounded great. But the first time I went to have it, the doctor shot the stuff straight into my arm without putting it through a drip. It was so strong, I had a fit straightaway. Even after they gave me something to calm me down I couldn’t straighten up my eyes. It was just too strong for me to take, so they put me back on chemo.”
So did your hair fall out again?
“It fell out within a week and I didn’t go out of the house for five months – not even with my mates. I only went out with my mum once and that was when all the other kids were in school. Whenever anyone came round to our house, I’d wear a hat. When I had to go back to school I was terrified – I thought everyone would laugh, ‘cause my hair hadn’t grown back properly.”
Were you worried you’d miss out on snogs ‘cause of your hair?
“Yep, ‘cause at 14 all that stuff’s just beginning to happen. I didn’t have a girlfriend, but I’d snogged a few girls. To be honest the worst thing was that it affected my footie. I was really into football and wanted to do it as a career. I’d been signed for my home town’s schoolboys team and had just won the player of the year award. But this was a full season down the drain and I had to pack the team in.”
Have you had any false alarms since?
“Yeah, I’m always checking for lumps. I’ve got a little one right now, but that’s just my glands. A few years ago I’d have thought it was back, but the more time passes, the less I worry. And if it returns I’ll beat it again.”
D’you still have nightmares?
“Not really. I’ve been clear for nearly five years now, and after six years it shouldn’t return. I think about cancer every day and I know I don’t want to die. I’m getting to the stage in my life where I want to do something good. And seeing all my friends makes me realise I can’t leave everyone behind.”
Do you have any advice for other cancer sufferers?
“Don’t think about dying, just think about what you want to do with your life when you’re better. Let people take you for what you are. I didn’t, because I was too paranoid about what people might say.”
Has it made you look at life differently?
“I always wanted to do something special with my life. I didn’t just want it to pass me by when I got better. Having cancer made me a lot more determined to succeed. It’s good that everyone who reads this will see how ill I was and compare it to what I’m doing now. I want my story to be a positive thing. If you’re really ill and feel like you don’t want to go on, maybe seeing how I’ve got through it will help you. You can live a perfectly normal life.”
