I Don’t Have a Choice. I Have to Do It. She Depends on Me | Cancer, Caring & Surviving the Hardest Years - Claire Wynne’s story

What is it really like to be a full-time carer? How do you cope when breast cancer comes back? And how do you keep going when somebody you love depends on you?In this episode of You Can Do Hard Things with Jenny Melling, Jenny talks to Claire Wynne about a life that has repeatedly forced her to find the strength to carry on.Claire's daughter Chloe has autism, a learning disability and epilepsy and requires 24-hour care. Claire talks honestly about caring for an adult child with additional needs, carer burnout and exhaustion, the guilt of needing respite care and the question many parents in her position fear: what will happen to my disabled child when I'm no longer able to care for them?Claire also shares what it was like having a premature baby at 29 weeks, when her son Bradley spent nine weeks in special care, and the fear she experienced when it was finally time to bring him home.She talks about experiencing domestic abuse, leaving an abusive relationship with two young children and becoming a single mum.Then, around the age of 30, Claire discovered a lump in her breast.It was breast cancer.Claire underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy while continuing to care for her children. She talks candidly about what chemotherapy actually feels like, losing her hair during chemotherapy and why finishing cancer treatment didn't mean that cancer suddenly felt “over”.After years of clear mammograms, 18 years after her original breast cancer diagnosis, Claire was told the cancer had returned.What is it like to hear “the cancer's back” after almost two decades? How do you cope with the fear of cancer recurrence? And how do you find the strength to face treatment again?Claire also talks about losing her brother Darren to cancer, grief, family and the reality of carrying on when life doesn't stop to give you time to recover.This is an honest conversation about:• Breast cancer and breast cancer recurrence • Cancer returning after 18 years • Chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hair loss • Life after cancer treatment • Caring for an adult child with autism and learning disabilities • Being a full-time, 24-hour carer • Carer burnout and respite care • Autism, learning disability and epilepsy • Premature birth at 29 weeks and neonatal care • Domestic abuse and becoming a single mum • Losing a sibling to cancer and coping with grief • Resilience and how to keep going when life feels too hardWhen Jenny asks Claire what has enabled her to keep going through everything she's faced, her answer is simple:“I don't have a choice. I have to do it.”🎙️ You Can Do Hard Things with Jenny Melling is a podcast about resilience, adversity and the real stories behind how people survive life's hardest moments.Follow or subscribe so you don't miss future episodes, and if Claire's story resonates with you, please leave a rating or review and share the episode.If you've been through something difficult and would like to tell your story, or know somebody who should be a guest on You Can Do Hard Things, get in touch.