Laura MacKenzie

As winter turns to spring and thoughts turn from spring to summer, many of us will start to think of vacations. If you are new to life with an ostomy...

My bladder cancer journey began almost 6 years ago. I have developed and grown in this time - grown in many ways. Grown as a patient, grown as an advocate...

Being a patient - it is not a title we choose or something we choose to enter into. It is forced upon us when our amazing human body stops working...

Today was a good day. Through a UK Bladder Cancer Charity, I was approached to do a talk, and that talk was today. It was to talk to a patient...

Social media has changed our lives in many ways. Many for the good but, of course, in other ways less positively. On the one hand, it is a great way...

Today has been a strange day. A day as a nation in the UK we will never forget. A day when we lost so much more than a figurehead or...

I have to say. I often feel so privileged for the rewarding opportunities having been through a bladder cancer journey and becoming an ostomate has brought me. Of course, like...

Almost 5 years after I left the ward where I was post-surgery, I walked back in here tonight. Tonight, as the workday was drawing to a close for many Glaswegians...

The 1st of November 2017. This is a date I will never forget. A date that will always have great significance in my life. A day I will continue to...

Today I am looking at the impact of living with a retracted stoma. If your bladder cancer treatment plan includes surgery to remove your bladder, known as a radical cystectomy...

To anyone who knows me well, I have always loved birthdays. I am writing this a few days before my 46th birthday. In fact, I always liked to think I...

Do you have late-night thoughts? I think we all do at some point. There is always a night you can't sleep for one reason or another. It could be a...

I am back for my final part to take a look at another couple of additional ostomy products which may help you on your ostomy journey. Today I am going...

After 3.5 years of managing to avoid COVID-19 - it finally got me. Having avoided contracting COVID-19 up until now was probably partly due to luck. However, for the most...

As you may have read, I had many plans for Bladder Cancer Awareness Month. One of these was reaching out to my local member of parliament (the UK's rough equivalent...

Hi again. I am back to look at another couple of additional ostomy products that may help you on your journey. Some people need support in the early days while...

Surgery day was approaching. On October 31st, 2017, I was admitted to the Royal Infirmary in Glasgow, Scotland, for my total pelvic exenteration surgery scheduled for the next day. Confirmation...