Five years later, however, Kelly received the upsetting news that she once again had primary breast cancer. This time, she had more surgery, 6 rounds of chemotherapy, and 15 sessions of radiotherapy. Kelly received her treatment at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, which is where she encountered Little Lifts for the first time.

It was at her first oncology appointment, when all the information about the treatment and the road ahead was shared with her, that Kelly received her Little Lifts Box. She told us that she burst into tears when she was handed it and started to open it up and discover its contents; it was ‘overwhelming – such a nice thing’. 

Kelly told us that the thoughtfulness of the Box was what struck her the most: ‘everything in it was perfect and everything was used’. She experienced a number of side effects to her chemotherapy treatment, including sickness, aches, pains, and hair loss – losing her eyelashes was a particularly difficult experience. During radiotherapy she felt tired and sore.

Kelly particularly valued the wordsearch book in her Box, as she needed to keep occupied throughout lonely chemotherapy sessions during lockdown. She also found the moisturiser and lip balm really helpful, and was grateful for the plastic cutlery included in her Box, as eating with metal utensils was really unpleasant.

Kelly told us that her top tips for other people going through chemotherapy treatment were to have lots of moisturiser, lip balm, and mouthwash at hand to deal with the discomforts. She also recommends talking – to family and friends who care – about what you’re going through.

Currently, Kelly is cancer free and doing well.