Kris Hackett
IPSWICH children’s home manager Kris Hackett is also a composer, acoustic player and singer – her first album is due out, hopefully, at the end of the year.
Upbeat, frank and with a sparkling and genuine sense of humour, Kris was diagnosed with breast cancer on – she vividly remembers the day – September 14 2006.
Now a whirlwind fundraiser for CCIS, the 35-year-old explains how it helped her through the dark times.
As well as the shock of the diagnosis, Kris’s mind was invaded by all sorts of other worries.
She knew she would not be able to command her full salary during the time off she needed for the surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment she would need to undergo. And then she had to face the prospect that the treatment might deprive her of a chance of ever becoming a mother.
"So you panic. I went into CCIS and they were able to help with what benefits I was able to claim. They had an abundance of information – not only for myself but for my family and especially my partner.
"We used a quiet room to come to terms with the fact it was going to affect my fertility."
Her decision was to have the surgery – a lumpectomy – and then to put off starting her treatment until she had been through IVF at Bourne Hall, in Chelmsford, to preserve her eggs. This was funded by the Primary Care Trust. "They did fund all that – they were superb," says Kris.
Her course of chemotherapy started in the new year and CCIS provided free complementary therapy – body massage – which Kris says helped with the stress and helped her come to terms with cancer.
Another positive aspect of the way CCIS helped her was the friendliness of the people there.
Kris says the hospital was marvellous but recalls that Dawn, on the desk at CCIS, was the first person who remembered her name.
After chemotherapy – during which time Kris lost all her hair – there was radiotherapy in June and July and then she was back to work on September 1 and, with astonishing energy, held a music weekend at The Steamboat Tavern in Ipswich to raise money for CCIS on September 8 and 9.
With six bands playing punk/ska on Saturday and nine acoustic folk blues acts on Sunday, the event raised £1,500 and this included the proceeds of a draw with prizes donated by local companies and cash for cakes – baked in abundance by willing volunteers.
So after a tough year, how is Kris now?
"I feel fine," she says although she adds that she is now going through the menopause and laughs ruefully about the recurrent hot flushes she has to endure.
