I joined a local playgroup with my baby (5 months) in late 2012. It was a lovely small playgroup and I made two wonderful friends, Lisa and Sally. Each had 2 daughters. A few years of going to playgroup saw our kids get bigger and start school but we didn't live far from each other and we stayed in touch, play dates in school hols etc. Then in early 2016, I had messages from both Sally and Lisa saying they had breast cancer and would be having mastectomies and chemo. They were a great source of comfort for each other during a really difficult time. In early December 2017 we went out to celebrate Lisa's birthday and her all clear news. Sally had received her all clear a few months previous. 

Only a few weeks later in early 2018, Lisa got the devastating news that her cancer had returned. She fought so very hard, Sally and I were so proud of her. When I got my VLM ballot place she asked me not to waste such a good opportunity to fundraise and asked me to raise money for breast cancer research. She had planned to watch me on the red button, I was going to call her as I ran down the Mall, but unfortunately she took a turn for the worse and she left a massive hole in our hearts in Feb 2019. Sally and I held hands and cried together at her funeral. We cried for Lisa, for her husband, and mostly for her two young girls. 

I ran VLM in my BCN team vest a couple of months later. I wrote her name on the back and had a small photo of her pinned to my number so that she could run with me. Ive never cried so hard as when I crossed that finish line and she crossed it with me. 

Sally and I had coffee frequently and we had made plans whilst at Lisas funeral to always go out for dinner in December and celebrate her birthday. We had done that as a threesome for a couple of years and it felt comforting to carry it on. So in Dec 2019, Sally and I went out for dinner just around the corner from where we had met at playgroup. We raised a glass to Lisa, enjoyed our dinner and made plans to see each other after Christmas. Well, busy lives with young kids always get in the way, so we rescheduled our coffee a couple of times. Then Covid showed up. It was hard to find time to catch up in the summer hols, our diaries never seemed to line up and then in Sept she message to say that her cancer had come back in her brain and her lungs. I've never felt such despair in my life. She sent me another message in October, with some photos attached. She asked me to pin them next to Lisa whenever I run. I think my heart actually broke the day that I read that message. 

Sally left us in late March 2021. Covid restrictions meant I had to stand outside church to pay my respects but wild horses wouldn't have kept me from saying goodbye to my friend. The high street was lined with her friends, all holding daffodils. On a grey March day, it was a ray of sunshine. 

I don't have much faith left in higher powers any more, cancer has chipped away at that. I know this though, if there is an afterlife, Sally and Lisa will be partying away together, and they'll have the pompoms out every time I pin a race number on my vest. 

2 Husbands are missing their wives, and 4 young girls are missing their mums. Cancer is a cruel, cruel, thing and I'm going to run all the miles that I can, to fund the science that will help to stop it.