Today I am doing something I've never done before - I've been asked to act as 'MC' or 'chair' or somesuch (it's all a bit vague really!) for a day conference in a health care setting!  We have evidently 90 delegates registered - clinical nurse specialists, oncologists, professors, psychologists - and I, as one of the lay representatives on the steering group, have been asked to be the front person who keeps the show on the road!  Quite an honour and also quite a responsibility

The conference is part of a project looking at providing appropriate support to people who experience cognitive changes following cancer treatment, what is often referred to as chemo-brain.  The project has run a pilot programme of small groups which have enabled people to normalise their experience, gain an understanding of the condition (and how it is/is not recognised in medical circles) to discover proven strategies and to share hints and tips for coping.

I got involved with this project as a lay rep because of my own chemo-brain/tamoxi-brain experience (still ongoing into its sixth year) and a desire both to better understand the condition and to see what could be done to help other people.

Today will be interesting and challenging, and will make use of many of my transferable skills as a person who spends a lot of time standing at the front of big groups of people.  Looking forward to it, even if it's not exactly a day "off"!