For the past two years, illustrator Matilda Tristram's life has been turbulent to say the least. 17 weeks into the pregnancy of her first child, she found out she had colon cancer and needed chemotherapy to treat a tumour the size of an apple. It meant some pretty stark choices—abort the baby to start the treatment, go ahead with it and risk harming the baby, or wait until he or she was born before starting any kind of treatment. She went with the chemotherapy.
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Before her first dose, she started making comics to convey how she was feeling. Conversations were too upsetting. Anyone who knows Tristram or read the (enormously popular) comics will know how a gentle tide of gallows humour can help alleviate the day-to-day pain of something so terrifying, where even the tiniest anxious thoughts can leave you crippled with despair.Her baby, James, was induced five weeks early and, despite being little, was a picture of health. He still is. Tristram had her last chemotherapy dose in October, with a clear follow-up scan, and now only needs to have annual check-ups to monitor things.Her comics are now gathered in a book, Probably Nothing, but Tristram—who describes herself on Twitter as "replacing Sharon Osbourne as the glamorous young face of colon cancer"—has made a special strip for us detailing her relationship with food and eating during chemotherapy; mushing carrot pulp into porridge to try and keep up with the 10-a-day rule, having to wear pink cashmere gloves to take stuff out the fridge because of the neuropathy she developed, wondering whether Peperamis caused the cancer, destroying her relationship with popcorn forever, being told not to eat sugar and how marshmallows were the best soother for chemotherapy diarrhea.
