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WHAT WE’RE DOING

As of February, the Criticaleye team has spent nearly a year mostly supporting senior executives from our homes instead of our London office. To bring us together this month, we've decided to raise money for the incredible Cancer Research UK.

To do this, we will walk, jog or run the 1,000-mile distance from London to Edinburgh, all the way down to Cardiff, and then right back to our office off Fleet Street. Alongside marking the distance between Britain's capitals, 1,000 miles also represents the 1,000 people in the United Kingdom who are diagnosed with cancer each day.

Throughout the month of February, we will each be taking on around 50km each to reach our eventual 1000 mile goal! We will update this page, alongside our LinkedIn with some videos of our journeys and pictures of some of the beautiful views around us, keeping you updated every week. Some will walk, some will jog - and the bravest among us will even run our 50km (although don't expect many videos of those trips!)

Criticaleye has always believed strongly in the importance and power of community. With many feeling isolated and being separated from their loved ones over the last year, it's more important than ever to stand in solidarity with those affected by cancer.

Whether you can give £50 or 50p, we're thankful for every penny that goes towards sponsoring us on our journey to 1,000 miles!

WHY CANCER RESEARCH UK?

One of the primary reasons for choosing Cancer Research UK as our charity of choice, comes from the battles our brilliant Managing Director of Group Services, Jamie Wilson, has faced over the last 8 years. She’s written a timeline of her story below:

April 2013: We were preparing for our daughter’s first birthday and officially opening the doors of Criticaleye’s Asian practice… and then the first breast cancer diagnosis came. I can only describe it as an out of body experience.

May 2013: So much information to take in. My first surgery to remove the tumour, margins and lymph nodes. My 35th birthday, and IVF process to freeze embryos before starting chemotherapy.

June 2013: Chemotherapy began. First cycle wasn’t as horrific as anticipated. My amazing chemo nurse stumbled with emotion visible when she read out my birthday – you see, we were the same age…

July 2013: Second round of chemotherapy. I got ill. Really ill. Ended up in hospital with a suspected blood clot for several days while my husband persevered with our one-year old, running a business and trying to remove all of my worries. He is forever my superhero.

August 2013: More chemotherapy. My hair was amassing in clumps on my pillow every morning and it became evident it was time to shave it. It was then that I saw the incredible beauty of a child’s perspective. We worried she would struggle seeing Mommy bald. She didn’t. She stroked my head like it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen and felt.

September 2013: Chemotherapy trundles on.

October 2013: More chemotherapy… and then it happened… all six rounds complete!

November 2013: Daily radiotherapy. And then tamoxifen.

December 2013: I slept and I celebrated!

2014 was a blur. The toughest year of my life. Trying to go back to ‘normal’ but constantly being reminded that it was never going to be ‘normal’ and that carefree pre-cancer life would never be again. I failed, a lot. I picked myself up and reflected on the millions of joys I had around me. I got married. I celebrated with many of the people who I loved most in the world. And slowly my mind was less consumed by thoughts of cancer.

Fast forward to 2018. I celebrate five years since my cancer diagnosis. In that time, I’ve lost my Dad to cancer, my mother-in-law to stroke, but we also bring a new life into the world. Daughter #2 arrived! I’m exhausted but grateful.

July 2019: I don’t feel right. I’m more tired than I should be (I think? With two children and work maybe it’s normal to feel THIS rubbish?!). I go to the doctor and they tell me I’m going through other life changes, nothing to be concerned about.

August 2019: I go for my mammogram check-up. It doesn’t go well. I learn that they need more tests, but it looks like the cancer has returned. A week later it is confirmed.

September 2019: I have a mastectomy and reconstruction. I have drains in for six weeks. During that time, I ride-along for school runs, watch hockey matches from the side-lines and work from home. I am unable to lift, carry or properly cuddle my babies. But, I experience incredible support from people – again. And I have my two beautiful daughters, husband and Mother at my side for all of it. Cheering me on with my disgusting drains on show.

I also learn that it doesn’t appear to have spread. No chemotherapy this time, just drugs for the next 10 years. How can I possibly be this lucky?

Am I different? Yeah, I am. Am I less risky in my choices? Yes. Both of those are good things. I am surrounded by a lot of laughter, a lot of positive people and a ton of joy. All. The. Time.

Everyday I think about the doctors, nurses and researchers who have worked tirelessly to develop treatments and understanding of cancer behaviours so that even after two cancer diagnoses, I am still here. I literally owe all of those people my life and will forever support  organisations that fund continued research so that my beautiful daughters hopefully never go through what I have and so that other families and spouses don’t have to go through what my husband and children have. And to all of those people who haven’t been as lucky as me and are no longer here because of cancer, we must do our part in making sure their legacies are not defined by the cancer itself, but instead they are remembered by the donations to research and treatment that we continue to make. For them, for our families and friends and for the generations of people to come.

xxJamie

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