Glittering a Turd: How surviving the unsurvivable taught me to live: The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller

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Rage at the egotistical, dismissive, offhand, "I know better because I'm a professional type" doctors who won't f**king listen to their patients who know their own bodies best!!!! This book just brings home how disparaging some doctors, particularly GP's can be, towards women with clear symptoms of cancer. For some reason there seems to be a "can't be arsed" attitude to even refer people for scans, biopsies, mammograms, ultrasound scans, MRI's. Everything is dismissed as "your hormones, your age, your lifestyle", with a definite leaning towards the "watch and wait" scenario. It's not good enough, nor has it ever been. I rushed through it wrapped in my duvet and accompanied by mugs of instant coffee, and couldn’t wait to pass it on to a friend. Kris’s generosity of spirit is clearly contagious! And if you hop over to Patreon you can be a fully fledged member of the Turd Glitterati and get more fab content from Kris https://www.patreon.com/howtoglitteraturd Gareth fills his days creating social media content, rubbing shoulders with celebs, curating live events, and trawling through the extensive archives of all the incredible and oh so memeable moments from pop culture history. But as you’ll find out, his journey to creating the life he’s always dreamed of was born out of the battles he faced on the way.

You can buy Nastaha’s first fiction book ‘Toxic’ here - https://uk.bookshop.org/books/toxic-9781912979899/9781912979899 I’ve been in love with Kris Hallenga for a few years now after first hearing her on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place. “I believe in hope, I believe in happiness, I believe in cups of tea” has circled my head since my first listen and now since reading this book I have plenty more of her quotes to guide me. I’ve followed the work of Kris Hallenga since I was first diagnosed with cancer and became aware of enthusiastic students bouncing around in giant boob costumes. A wonderful book from Kris Hallenga who was diagnosed with breast cancer 11 years ago and is still very much living her life!This book time hops to give you an insight into the life growing up, the life before diagnosis and the life during the diagnosis. It emotionally connects you more the further you read into every chapter. The chapter titles made me smile. I’m glad the chapters were not just labelled a number. What an inspiring story of a 23 year olds journey with what started as breast cancer during a pandemic. I loved how witty it was and how the authors spirits were so high. I’ve read a few memoirs and this was so powerful. But in my community (myositis), it seems like being a woman, and being a woman of colour, already makes you start with a disadvantage.

For listeners of the Glittering A Turd, CALM is offering an exclusive offer of 40% off a CALM Premium subscription at CALM.COM/GLITTERmultiple brain lesions - 57 in total throughout the year, treated with targeted gamma knife radiotherapy (I was completely asymptomatic). Later that year my liver lesions progressed - one measuring 8cm. Liver biopsy showed cancer now triple negative with not many useful mutations. Commenced capecitabine at slightly lowered dose to avoid side effects. Liver lesion receded to almost nothing. It is becoming a common theme to have doctors dismiss or misdiagnose patients with these kind of diseases... and one thing that seems like a common denominator is that the patient usually is a woman. It was in the last 3 memoirs I listened to, but those 3 memoirs were also by women.

Kris was living a totally normal life as a twenty-three-year-old: travelling the world, falling in love, making plans. However, when she found a lump in her boob and was told that it was not only cancer, but also incurable, life took on a completely new meaning. She was diagnosed at an age when life wasn't something to be grateful for, but a goddamn right. Each week Kris will be joined by a very special guest to learn about their turds, how they came to be and what impact they had, and at the end of the day, how they found the glitter in spite of the turd. Kris Hallenga to me is an incredible person , when given life changing news she faces it head on . I may not know her personally but I am so proud of her and I am so grateful I got the chance to read this book and to feel part of this. When I heard youngsters on a bus chatting about what they had learned about breast cancer in school that day, I silently thanked Kris and CoppaFeel for finally putting cancer awareness on the national curriculum so that all young people would have the chance to be educated about how to advocate for their health. Radiotherapy to spine commenced, followed by chemo commenced - FEC-T and eventually a left mastectomy followed by chest radiotherapy. Shortly after I commenced Tamoxifen and monthly zometa IV.But Darren’s journey hasn’t always been smooth. His father died by suicide while in prison when Darren was just 11 years old. As he and Kris sit down for a chat, he explains what a profound impact this had on his life, how it became a catalyst for him exploring the world of comedy, his experiences with therapy and the difficult years that fell in between. Kris tells her story of how its changed the way she lives her life, from how she's surviving, despite many medical treatments, to information on the charity "Coppafeel" which she set up and raises money every year to support breast cancer sufferers. There can’t be a better title than this one. Glittering a Turd is the story of Kris Hallenga, CEO of Coppafeel the charity which encourages people to examine their breasts and pecs, twin sister to Maren, and a force of nature who by the way has cancer..Kris explains the choice of title much better than I could, but suffice to say being diagnosed with cancer at the age of 23 is pretty much *