I was looking through some old photographs and came across this one I thought you guys might like.  It’s pre-diagnosis round 2008 (although I didn’t know cancer was growing inside me). As you can see, despite being an ogre, Shrek is actually quite a handsome chap! Moreover, Princess Fiona is as you would expect, beautiful and radiant. There’s a bit of a story behind this picture as Chris (Princess Fiona) was in fact not very well at the time.

This picture was taken in Anaheim (LA) in Disneyland California in 2008. We were there with Chris’s brother Gerry (mad ex paratrooper) and his lovely wife Babs.  Poor Chris developed a mild pneumonia on day 1 when we were in San Francisco having been a bit ‘peaky’ on the plane. Despite a $600 antibiotic ‘shot’ in the ‘jacksie’, she spent the first couple of days in bed and was still not right when we drove from there to Yosemite; and then onto Death Valley and Vegas. She was actually starting to perk up by the time we got to LA but still looked weak and pale. Fortunately the photographer was able to put some colour in her cheeks and as you can also see, was able to put some flesh onto mine! Joking aside, looking at some of the other pictures from that period, I was certainly a bit ‘chubbier’ in the face than I am now (yes that is me on the left).

We’ve been back to USA 3 times since my diagnosis (4 times for me) – can’t let cancer think it’s winning!