London

We flew to London where Rachel and Leon met us at the airport. It was so nice to see them again but it was a shame that the circumstances weren’t different. Two days later I was able to go and see a private doctor where she took blood tests.

27th November
I called the doctors office to find out the results of the blood test and it turns out I had a haemoglobin level of 51. They said I needed to go to hospital immediately for a blood transfusion. So Kyle bundled me up and went to A&E. I was waiting probably only an hour before I was seen and from there I was moved wards and finally got more blood tests done. I arrived at A&E at 12.30pm and was in a ward at 6.30pm. It was then that they did the blood transfusion – I needed two units of blood. Normally they wouldn’t have done it at night but they said I was so low I needed it urgently.

28th November
I had another blood test and my HB levels had only gone up to 71, so I had to have another two units of blood. Another long day in hospital but luckily I had Kyle and Leon visiting me and buying me treats to have as the hospital food was average.

29th November
My blood had gone up to 84 and the doctors were happy with my progress. I then had a procedure and the next day was out of hospital, recovering at Leon’s place.

30th November – 15th Dec
This time is spent recovering and doing almost nothing in Greenwich. I was very lucky to be able to stay with Leon and Rachel and having Kyle here for support. We spent time watching the whole series of F.R.I.E.N.D.S and went out a couple of times for dinner and a drink. Then, we were off to South Africa. The last leg of our epic journey.

16th December
We had a rocky start to the morning when Rachel’s Mum’s car needed 4 new tires replaced before we could head off to the airport – which was en route to Wales, where Leon had a gig. We got going eventually and the weather was terrible. A tiny car and four big adults proved to be interesting but was nice to be able to spend an extra couple of hours with Rachel and Leon. It was a

very emotional goodbye, especially for me as I had been through so much and saying goodbye to my best bud was tough. However, we had friends, family and sun to look forward to in South Africa.
- Danielle