Let me introduce myself. My name is officially Alexis Woodfall on paper, but I usually use Alex Anderson . Not many people call me Alexis. Only my mother, family and a select few mates get away with callin' me Alexis! Usually, you'll hear my nickname LEX, or just plain old simple Alex. I live in Portsmouth, south of England. It's a naval port. It's small but there's a lot of people here! You wouldn't have thought it, but it's the most densely populated city in Europe!
I was born in Perú as m'whole family is from there too, although my sister was born here, in Portsmouth. As you can guess, Spanish is my first language, but as I've lived in the UK since I was about one an' a half years old, English is m'main spoken language.

I am now 23 years old and was diagnosed as having cancer of the lymph glands (aka; Lymphoma) when I was just a kid. Well, I was 18. Since then, I've been in remission about four times, and actually had the cancer five times, right now being on my fifth ride. Due to the illness, I've had loadsa chemotherapy, which I'm still takin' at the mo, I've also had a few bouts of radiotherapy, which I am also currently taking, high dose chemotherapy, stem cell transplants and some other stuff I've most probably had but can't remember 'cos I've developed a selective memory. As you can understand, when it comes down to having cancer, you start to forget those unpleasant memories. Things you don't wanna remember. It's really messed my life up. It came at the very wrong time of my life; when I was 18 as you know. The primetime of anyone's life. And for it to last as long as it has done already. I really can't wait till I get better! ...'till it's gone for good!
At the moment, I live with my lovely caring mother, Lily, and my just as kind, 20 year old sister, Tanya.

Things may have been well different had I been diagnosed a few months later than I actually did. The cancer was already advanced as it was. Any later would've been fatal. I got diagnosed around the 17th of July 1997, really near my sisters birthday (25th July), just before I started university. If I had got diagnosed any later, I might have moved outta the house, maybe to a different city to go to university. Then I would've been done right in! Stuck! It would've been nice to have got away from this city and live away from home like everyone else usually does. Meet new people, new places and all that. But 'cos I fell ill, I studied in my home town of Portsmouth.

I studied for a HND (a Higher National Diploma, for those of ya who don't live in the UK. It's a qualification one level lower than a degree) at the University of Portsmouth from 1997 till 2001. It should've taken me only two years, but 'cos of the illness, things were a bit more difficult so I failed the second year. Nice morale booster wasn't it? so now that I had my HND, I had the opportunity to "upgrade" the HND to a degree all for an extra year which is what I did. So I finished in July 2001. I got the mutha. You're thinkin' "so what did ya get your degree in then ya daft man? You haven't said!" I studied electrical & electronic engineering and Japanese. Yep, that's what I said, Japanese. I only reached a GCSE level grade, but I got an A* for it. (for all you gaijin out there [foreigners], a GCSE is what ya get when you leave school at 16. It's a good enuff qualification if you're doing a night class. An A is the highest grade, and G the lowest unless ya get a U which is 'ungraded'. A * after your grade is like a booster)

Seeing as the cancer started as I started university, it would've been nice if it had gone as I finished university. But NO! The bastard who decides all that didn't want that to happen - so I've still got it. Studying for a degree in electronic and electrical engineering and a qualification in Japanese at the same time, while receiving treatment for cancer was not easy. It was quite hard to keep up with all the work, let alone keeping up my attendance. But now, after four years of the studying, I can now proudly say that I obtained my degree and got the highest mark possible for GCSE Japanese.

I really do hope this web-site doesn't give the impression that I'm looking for pity of any kind as some may have been given the impression. On the contrary, it is here to show others in a similar situation that regardless of all the obstacles, it is possible to lead a normal life. In other words, if I can do it, then so can you!

The following pages are organised in such a way where each page is dedicated to each time I have beat the illness; four altogether. As I'm now beating the illness for a fifth time, there'll be a fifth page, which shall also continue in the "News" pages until it is beaten again... this time for good.
Click the arrow to the bottom right to proceed to the "First Illness page"...