Incredibly honoured to be appointed
@UNODC_AC
’s Executive Secretary of the
#GlobE
Network and Senior Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Advisor. Onwards!
And that wraps a little under three years here
@UNODC_EA
😢 😢 😢
My huge thanks to the entire team for all of their warmth and support and the very best of luck to
@MittalAshita
who takes over in August!
Tchuß!
Este día, presenté las Cartas Credenciales al secretario General
@antonioguterres
en las que el Presidente
@nayibbukele
me designa como Embajadora y Representante Permanente de
#ElSalvador
ante
@ONU_es
en Nueva York.
Well after 4.5 years, 15 CT scans, 5 PET-CT and 6 MRI, with good bloods too, we can say that the last cancer is gone.
I’ll have the lasting side effects forever, and be on meds for life, but I’m ok with that.
Lucky boy.
Onwards 💪
To the 👩
@Gatwick_Airport
who criticised me for using a disabled loo: not all
#disabilities
are visible. If you had any idea what was going on under this jumper it would make you pale. Don’t make assumptions that only a wheelchair validates the need.
#bowelcancer
#colectomy
Survived (just) my first run since cancer treatment & 4 abdominal ops. I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.
But it’s a start.
Thanks to
@Resus2Runner
&
@LiveBrenna
for influencing me!
🚨 Some personal news…
After 6 years
@UN__Cyber
and
@UNODC_AML
I’m honoured to be moving on to lead UNODC’s 🇺🇳 presence in Eastern Africa 🌍
@UNODC_EA
in December.
I’ve worked with the most inspiring people 🙏
Delighted that
@NayellyLoya_UN
will be transitioning the team!!
Due to my
#BowelCancer
history I have to have a colonoscopy every 6 months.
Today’s the day: sedation administered 11:20; out of the hospital 12:20.
No cancer, no lesions, no bleeding.
Whilst the bowel prep can be daunting, it’s really not bad & the scope can save your life
So...back into 🏥 for surgery tomorrow (02/12). Multiple
#BowelCancer
ops have wrecked my pelvic floor. Tomorrow my
#colorectalcancer
surgeon will try to fix it. Bring it on.🙃
Today I’ve had my 6-monthly ☢️ PET CT scan to check for any
#colorectal
#cancer
recurrence.
€1500 is never spent so willingly! Now the mental rollercoaster of hoping for good news but always preparing for bad.
#scanaxiety
Bigger victory. I’m home 😁 in my own 🛌
Massive thanks to everyone on here for carrying me through a tough few days. 4-6 weeks recovery at 🏠 now.
Wish you all a lovely weekend.
Tonight’s questions from my kids about gravity, black holes and space led to an overuse of cling-film, marbles & an onion to curve
#spacetime
and discuss
#gravity
.... this is your fault
@starstrickenSF
😉
This morning I said goodbye to a doctor who has been a stalwart in my life over the past 3 years.
The tears flowed freely for both of us.
To all who work to keep people like me alive; thank you.
And to you Dr Bärbl, I owe you my life. 🤗
1/ Almost two years to the day since I was last diagnosed with
#cancer
.
Whilst I have no current evidence of cancer, my body hasn’t recovered as well as we’d like.
So it’s back to 🏥 for me, now, for a large operation tomorrow, Friday 17th July 2020....
And that wraps a little under three years here
@UNODC_EA
😢 😢 😢
My huge thanks to the entire team for all of their warmth and support and the very best of luck to
@MittalAshita
who takes over in August!
Tchuß!
This day last week I was really unwell after
#laparotomy
from
#sepsis
& renal failure. Today, with corset in place and appropriate morphine, I walked 2km with zero pain. Still some way to go but feeling vastly better. 🙏
Bigger victory. I’m home 😁 in my own 🛌
Massive thanks to everyone on here for carrying me through a tough few days. 4-6 weeks recovery at 🏠 now.
Wish you all a lovely weekend.
So it’s been a tough week with surgery, a heart that wanted to stop and some complications.
But Friday ends with good news.
My
#colorectal
#cancer
has not spread outside of the colon. Nor to any lymph nodes.
Now to focus on surgical recovery and recovery from spinal fluid leak
5 years since the tweet below.
5 years since my second cancer.
5 years since pulmonary embolisms, cardiac arrest, brain hemorrhages and more.
Still here.
Thanks to everyone who has supported me on this journey.
Is my cancer journey over? Who knows. Every day is a bonus.
As my immune system is bit screwed post-op, my docs want me to double-mask.
#N95
& 3-ply paper. Simple.
You keep me safe, I keep you safe. How anyone objects to
#WearAMask
is beyond my 🧠.
Love this
@RoryStewartUK
. Mrs W and I met in London, spoke a mix of 🇫🇷 & 🇬🇧 🇮🇪. Kids born around the 🌎 had 🇳🇱 as 1st language but now it’s become 🇦🇹 🇩🇪.
@UN
I love leading a team with massively diverse languages from 🇪🇸 dialects 🇸🇻 🇬🇹 🇲🇽 to 🇷🇴 🇳🇵 🇰🇿 🇹🇭 🇺🇿 🇳🇴 🇺🇦 🇦🇲 🇿🇼 & more!
This weekend, we're celebrating
@UN
Mother Language Day. London is a global city - where over 300 languages are spoken. As Mayor, I would invest in language education because it enhances our culture and creates economic opportunities.
30-something years ago I was standing inside the shop behind me.
And where the pink bus is, a bomb went off, injuring many people.
I can still hear it.
And it drove me down this career path.
Northern Ireland proves that peace is possible, essential and deserved
#Peace
Thanks
@British_Airways
to cabin crew Lisa from Hexham on BA0064 NBO-LHR last night. I tore the coat hanging tag on my coat about 20 years ago - and Lisa went a sewed it for me!
So unnecessary but enormously kind. Thank you!
Thanks for all the lovely messages & comments - they really lifted my spirt. The
#laparotomy
went really well and I just got 🏡. The pain is challenging but I’m on
#fentanyl
,
#morphine
and loads of other drugs.
🙏 again everyone - really appreciate you.
#BowelCancer
#Colorectal
So...back into 🏥 for surgery tomorrow (02/12). Multiple
#BowelCancer
ops have wrecked my pelvic floor. Tomorrow my
#colorectalcancer
surgeon will try to fix it. Bring it on.🙃
It’s
#WorldCancerDay
, a day to shine a light on the 🌍 cancer care gap.
And as someone who’s had cancer twice so far, I realise how lucky I’ve been to have amazing care.
Learn more about the signs & symptoms of Colorectal (bowel) Cancer here:
Another colonoscopy done. Due to my ability to grow tumors very quickly, I have to have one every 6 months.
Apart from slightly sore skin from the bowel prep, midazolam & fentanyl meant that I didn’t feel a thing.
All clear, and I can forget about til the end of the year.
It’s the
@UNODC
🎄 party...and 🏥 🔪 🩸 🧬 ☢️ 💊 prevented me from going.
But that didn’t stop my wonderful friend
@PuttonenRiikka
- who 🖨 me!!! 👇👇👇👇👇👇
So I’m there in spirit and blessed to work with the best 🇺🇳 people on 🌎!(🙏 Riikka & screw
#BowelCancer
#Pain
!)
I go to bed tonight in
#Vienna
🇦🇹 at the ❤️ of Central
#Europe
. I’ll wake up tomorrow with Europe still at the centre of my ❤️.
The
#EU
’s principles & funding, supported
#peacebuilding
in my childhood home
#NorthernIreland
. I’ve lived in 4 🇪🇺 countries.
I remain European 🙏
Thanks so much for all the messages throughout my
#cancer
journey.
My bowel is now reconnected &
#ileostomy
removed. Despite fentanyl, morphine & ketamine, it’s a painful night: but your support truly helps.
Check out the symptoms of
#ColoRectal
cancer:
A week ago I had my annual
#colonoscopy
. It discovered that, in a year, I had grown three new tumours in my remaining 20cm colon.
They were all removed immediately.
They were NOT malignant.
So no further action beyond an iron infusion.
Colonoscopy saves my life again 🙏
And push back at Nairobi 🇰🇪 as my family and I leave Kenya.
A most amazing team
@UNODC_EA
and appropriate that the first person I met, is the last person I see.
Simon M, my brilliant driver, looked after me every day.
Never late, always safe & always happy. Miss you brother.
After 8 days in hospital, I’m glad to be home.
#Ileostomy
gone. No crazy life threatening stuff after this operation.
Onwards to recovery and settling into the new normal (again).
Next
#BowelCancer
staging CT in January and begin
#MonoClonal
#Antibody
treatment in Feb.
🙏 all
So this wasn’t my Friday night plan.
Impacted by all the cancer stuff and meds, my gallbladder is necrotic and will be leaving me tomorrow morning in an open cholecystectomy.
Once more into the breach…
Spent the morning with orphaned baby elephants
@SheldrickTrust
in Nairobi.
Most are orphaned by poachers, and that’s why we
@UNODC_EA
work with
@kwskenya
to help bring them to justice.
Stop the demand, stop the crime, save our elephants.
@bowelcancerman
I’m not sure that “liking” this is correct Patrick. I’m so sorry for you, your family and friends.
Thank you for doing what you’ve done - and no doubt will continue to do.
I wish you a pain-free and comfortable next stage. Know that you’ve made a difference that outlasts you.
@matthaig1
If the bleeding stops and it’s not a huge lump, she can self-treat. Signs of infection that require assessment inc redness, pain, discharge, throbbing etc.
Check last tetanus.
Stay on hold with 111
Good luck (former medic and Thumb-top chopper-offer)
That’s the sort of
#PET
#CT
that I like to see.
Dull, no bright spots (except evidence of a brain).
So, for now, exceptionally lucky to have no evidence of disease (NED) - and I know that’s not the case for so many.
Let’s hope I can stay like that for another year.
And so begins the long journey to 🇳🇿 New Zealand. Really looking forward to briefing Prime Minister
@jacindaardern
’s Government on all the work done by my remarkable
@UNODC
people around the world on
#cybercrime
,
#cybersecurity
,
#AML
&
#CFT
. 🛫 VIE-DXB-MEL-WLG 🥱 😃
During the last covid lockdown I nearly burnt out. Today I had 3 hours of meetings and calls all whilst walking around Vienna’s beautiful Stadtpark. 14000 steps done and a much healthier mindset. ❤️
#Vienna
#Wien
CT scan receptionist asked me today “why do you want a scan”? (apparently I looked ok today)
I told her politely that I had
#BowelCancer
, a brain
#hemorrhage
, Colitis, pulmonary embolisms and I’d like very much to know if my 🧠 is getting better.
Seems these were acceptable.
After cancer surgery to remove most of my colon & relocate part of my small intestine, I developed Crohn’s Disease & colitis.
The disease & treatment has caused me to develop severe osteoporosis of my spine, pelvis & femurs. So begins the next challenge... Onwards.
Today, collecting my 6 y/o from school he said “Daddy I wear my mask all the time in school. I don’t have to, but I don’t want you to get covid and die”. 😢
Screw this disease.
Screw the impact it has on everyone.
Wear a mask
Wash your hands
Keep distance
Get a vaccine
🙏
The last time I was in
@UNODC
@UN_Vienna
it was Friday 13th March. Today, Friday 12th June, and it’s nice to be back (if a little eerie). And to friends from the office, don’t worry:
a. The coffee machine is still there
b. The elevators are still orange
#COVID19
2 weeks ago I had a concerning scan suggestive of cancer spread into my bladder.
Thanks to the astoundingly good medical care in 🇰🇪 I was able to arrive at 05:15 this morning, general anaesthesia at 07:00,
#cystoscopy
and
#prostate
scan, and home by 10:45.
All clear 😊
2020 has been a crappy year.
But those of us lucky enough to survive, to have a job and to have a home, will continue to work for those who don’t.
I’m enormously blessed to work with some of the best people on earth
@UNODC
@UN
@UNODC_AML
@UN__Cyber
Happy New Year everyone 🥂
It is a deep privilege, and enormous responsibility, to lead the women and men of UNODC in Eastern Africa.
Many met for the first time this week.
They are a remarkable group of focused, caring, skilled professionals. Lives in 🌍 are better because of them.
We are your UN.
6 days later and I just got into my own bed
Enormous thanks to all of you for your messages, to my wonderful
@UNODC_EA
work family who carried me this week & to
@AKUHNairobi
for their life-saving, world-class treatment.
A few weeks of recovery in front of me, but I’ll be back
@stomababe
.My name is Neil. I’m 44 and had rectal cancer at 26, and at 38 colon cancer, a cardiac arrest, subdural haemorrhages, 5 pulmonary embolisms and have now developed Crohn’s disease, osteomalacia and chronic pain & sleep disorder.
Apart from that, all good.
It’s
@UN
day. It’s tempting to thinking the UN as being a building - be it here in Vienna, New York, or around the 🌎.
But COVID showed us that it’s nothing to do with a physical office.
The UN is an ideal.
People, United in peace.
We - all of us together - are the UN 🇺🇳.
I didn’t get to say goodbye to my old team
@UN__Cyber
@UNODC_AML
due to COVID lockdown in November.
Righted that tonight.
Thanks gang for coming together. Miss you all.
"At the age of 25.. I went back to secondary school, sitting in a classroom with 16 year olds"
@peterkyle
on how he had to go back to school in his mid-twenties to get the chance to go to university.
On
@GlobalPlayer
@lewis_goodall
|
@peterkyle
Waiting for
#MRI
#MRA
🧠 results really increases the
#scanxiety
. In
#Wien
, I’m so lucky to have my results 18 hours later - no
#metastatic
disease - just the remnants of multiple subdural hemorrhages in 2018. Phew. (this is a 3 Tesla MR Angiogram of my brain)
What a bizarre experience - being on a plane for the first time since Feb 2020!
What a beautiful approach into Dublin 🇮🇪 today! Thanks to those who have allowed me to safely reunite with my parents for the first time in 2 years 😃 - especially
@Stadt_Wien
💉
@lead_horizon
Whilst recording this, I lost my wallet full of 💵 , 💳, driving license, health insurance & diplomatic ID.
But I didn’t know.
Only when my 📱 rang, and “Hasan” told me he’d found it, did I realize. Hasan, an unemployed refugee from Syria, kept it safe for me.
What a great 👨
Like so many, due to COVID, we couldn’t share Christmas dinner with friends this year so I cooked for them and Mrs W delivered!
After 9 hours of cooking I’m opening the wine.... 🥂 Merry Christmas everyone!
Only a few weeks since this pic but today we laid out brother Ulrich Haeussermann to rest in Mombasa 🇰🇪.
Humble, kind, gentle & committed to our work. Even more so to his wife and 4 children.
Uli’s tragic loss will be felt for years to come.
Rest in Peace our lovely friend 🇺🇳
Speak not the name of the attacker. He is nothing. No one.
Shout the names of the victims and their saviours from the rooftops. Those are the names that we must know and remember.
#Wien
#Vienna