9 years ago I ran the NYC marathon.  I never thought I would run it again, nor did I particularly want to. 

But on 19 March 2018 I was diagnosed with breast cancer and on Nov 2^nd 2018 I woke up from major surgery.  I still had 3 weeks of radiotherapy treatment to face which would run all through the Christmas and New Year period. 

One month after my radiotherapy ended I entered the NYC marathon just to see if I would be lucky enough to succeed in the ballot again and was shocked that I secured a place. I had to decide whether to take the opportunity and do it or defer for a year.  

This run on Nov 3^rd 2019 will mark one year and 1 day from waking up in that hospital bed cancer free but wondering how I would ever walk again, completely immobile and weak from the months of treatment and depth of surgery.  In so much pain that I could not even cry or try to laugh because it intensified the pain.

Considering deferring to this time next year I realise that I could have the misfortune to have a recurrence, unlikely yes but it was unlikely I would develop breast cancer in my thirties too! So I am taking the opportunity as it has presented itself to me and going to give my best efforts to getting from 0 – 26.2 in the next 6 months.  It will mark the return to the ‘old’ me; feeling fit and strong is amazing after the trauma of treatment (already feeling a lifetime ago in many ways and yet feels like only yesterday writing this).

I feel extremely selfish just taking the opportunity without raising money for charity along the way; after all, without the decades of research my outcome would not be a success story.  The charitable support from ongoing advice to post surgery bras and pretty bags to hide your drains and tubes in are just a taste of the other types of charities working to support people fighting cancer.  

I will be setting up a couple of justgiving.com accounts for the various charities I would like to give back to, some very local to me and others wider reaching.

Please continue to support your charities, with 1 in 2 people having a lifetime risk of some form of cancer developing the research is essential.  There is a real possibility that one day various cancers will be curable and at the very least quicker and easier to diagnose.  Breast cancer is proof of the headway made and why outcomes are so successful when compared to other cancers.  It would be nice to believe that one day there will be a less gruelling treatment than the sickening chemotherapy and its harsh side effects (yes I lost my hair, developed blood clots, suffered neutropenic sepsis, intense nausea and insomnia thanks to the steroids).  So please, choose the justgiving link that strikes a chord with you most and give generously.

I may have run a marathon almost a decade ago but I am in a much less fit condition to start with and have a gruelling training time ahead.

Grateful to be here and giving this a try!

Paula

XOXO

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