It is almost exactly 2 years ago that I finished treatment for breast cancer.  To mark that milestone I will be taking on the challenge of 2 half marathons in 24 hours - walking in the Shine Night Walk (with my mother and sister) followed by running the Windsor Half Marathon (on my own!).  Two half marathons to celebrate two healthy years!

There is absolutely no doubt that I am able to take on this challenge thanks to the years of research that has gone in to understanding and tackling cancer.  It is not just that I am fit and well with no sign of cancer but that I am actually alive at all.  I am lucky to have had a reasonably easily treatable form of cancer.  I am determined now to help increase the number of people surviving a cancer diagnosis in the future. 

OBVIOUSLY I would like to raise some funds for Cancer Research UK.  I know firsthand that the research carried out by CRUK funded scientists has given me the life I have now.  From Tamoxifen (the hormone drug I’m on) to the chemo I received (Taxol, for example) to the radiotherapy (an area of expertise in Oxford J), Cancer Research UK played a significant role in making it work for me.

So, if you can, please sponsor me to:
- thank Cancer Research UK for the role it played in the fact I am alive right now (and millions more people)
- to celebrate with me my ‘2 years cancer free’ milestone
- and, more importantly, to make sure more and more people get to enjoy longer lives free of cancer.

We will beat cancer sooner!

Unnecessary extra information:

Why Shine and Windsor?

I first ran the Windsor Half Marathon in 2012, a month before I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  A month after finishing treatment I jogged the same half marathon.  On crossing the finishing line I burst into tears.  Going through treatment was just something I had to endure, ‘beating’ cancer was what the treatment did, completing that half marathon after treatment was something I achieved to say ’F*ck you cancer!’.

I then vowed to run the Windsor Half every year that my body allows.

Then I found out about the amazing research that is happening at Oxford University, which influenced my treatment and is helping more and more people survive cancer on a daily basis.  Much of this research is funded by people like us through Cancer Research UK.  Since subsequently joining CRUK I have been blown away by the talented people and inspiring researchers that I’ve met who are working so hard to make cancer treatments kinder and more effective and to ultimately cure cancer.

CRUK organises the Shine Night Walk - a half (or full) walking marathon through the streets of London at night.  My mother is getting in to her ‘long walks’ and after we completed the Thames Path Challenge with my sister just after treatment, she is constantly looking for the next challenge. Combine my mother’s determination to walk to raise money for cancer research with my life and strong connection with CRUK = we have to do Shine this year.

So Shine Night Walk - 13.1 miles of determined walking followed by Windsor Half Marathon in the day - 13.1 miles of determined jogging. 

My cancer story (if you didn’t already know):

In October 2012, a year after my son was born, I felt a dull ache in my right boob and I found a rather large and hard lump.  I wasn’t worried at the time.

I attended the consultation on my own (idiot) I was examined, asked questions, had a mammogram, ultrasound, biopsy and then I was led back into the consultant’s room.  The nurse sat down beside me whilst I commented lightly on how painful the biopsy was.  The consultant shuffled his papers awkwardly and looked me in the eye and said ‘I’m sorry to say that we are 99% sure that it is breast cancer’. 

I had 7 months of chemotherapy of different types, which was the hardest part physically.  I had a prostate cancer drug called Zoladex to attempt to preserve fertility (and went through full blown menopause). I did of course lose my hair (the current length is 2 years worth of growth!) and had an unplanned 12 night stay in hospital when I got what was probably a mild sick bug!  My veins gave up allowing needles in so I had a port-a-cath inserted, which was a horrible experience.  I had a lumpectomy and lymph removal but two weeks later I had to have a mastectomy as there was a large area of pre-cancerous cells surrounding the tumour.  I couldn’t have immediate reconstruction (something still on the ‘to endure’ list) as I then had 15 rounds of radiotherapy.  Finally I started on Tamoxifen, a hormone drug I am to take for the next 8 years (2 down!).  It is an amazing drug but I do not appreciate the side effects.

I am now in ‘remission’, which means no visible sign of cancer.  I think it actually means: ‘wait and see if the treatment worked’.  Getting back to ‘normal’ life was actually the part I found hardest - dealing with side effects, acute health anxiety and an emotional ‘hangover’.

But I realise that I am lucky to have been diagnosed in 2011, rather than 20 years before, and that improvement in prognosis is down to research.  I also feel so grateful to the millions of people who have supported cancer research over the years. Now I am determined to play a role in ensuring better outcomes for all types of cancer in the future.  Please join me!