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The Christie has been a part of Rachel’s life since 2011, when she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. Rachel says she feels like she’s been very lucky – she hasn’t had surgery, just hormone treatment and oral chemotherapy.
As well as having a good treatment experience, Rachel says her health is currently very good. She enjoys playing a lot of sport – golf, yoga, going to the gym and doing lots of walking – and is currently serving as a magistrate.
Rachel has been visiting The Christie for CT and MRI scans every 3 months for 12 years, so she certainly knows the scanning department well. She says the staff have always been great – they always see her on time, they run the department very efficiently and to schedule.
But while Rachel is full of praise for the staff in the scanning department at The Christie, she does say it could do with some development. She’s one of the people supporting our campaign to build a new Advanced Scanning and Imaging Centre (ASIC), to make the scanning experience better for our patients.
Rachel says the waiting area and the changing rooms in the scanning department could do with sprucing up, as there aren’t many private places to change. She says after so many years, she’s used to it now, and always comes prepared not wearing any metal and in comfortable clothes.
With 2 sons at university, Rachel would love to get back some extra time from going to scans, to spend time with her family and doing the things she loves. She says she thinks the new ASIC development will be transformative for patients.
“For the first 10 years of my treatment, I was working full time as a head teacher. It was a job I really enjoyed but was very busy. It would have been great to have had more time so I could have had more flexibility with a career I loved.
