On Sunday 17th September I will be undertaking the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge with my fabulous family and friends to raise funds for Inflammatory Breast Cancer Network UK. I will be joined by my husband (Jack Williams), my parents (Gareth Williams and Leon Pilkington) sisters (Heather and Hannah Williams) and my friends ( Bethany Thompson, Dean Thompson, Liam Wolstencroft, Ally Harris, Daniel McKay, Joe Hornsby, and Natalie Cusack)

The mountains of Whernside (736 m),  Ingleborough (723 m) and Pen-y-ghent (694 m) are collectively known as the Three Peaks. The aim of the challenge is to complete all three peaks in under 12 hours! Oh and by the way I am still on chemotherapy!

Most will probably know that I was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer in October 2022. It is such a rare cancer with only 1% of breast cancer being this type. I was shocked how agressive this cancer is first hand. It went from a bit of swelling in my breast to 4 weeks later, and my whole breast and the lymph nodes under my arm and my breast bone affected. It was on the verge of spreading to the rest of my body. I have since undergone chemotherapy for 6 months, mastectomy in March 2023 and completed radiotherapy in June 2023. I am now currently in the middle of another 12 months of additional chemotherapy at Burnley Primrose suite. Anyone who knows me understands I like a challenge and this will be my biggest one yet.

IBC Network UK is the only UK charity that raises money for research into IBC. It is a small charity with small overheads which means that any money raised can make a big difference. Even though more women have IBC than men in the UK, no funding from any of the breast cancer charities are made to this fight. We are aiming to keep the research team at Birmingham University learning about the unique environment that makes IBC one of the most aggressive and deadliest breast cancers. All IBC is diagnosed at stage 3 (like me) which is already in lymph nodes, or stage 4 which has spread to other parts of the body. I think it's really important to raise awareness of the signs of IBC (swelling, redness, heaviness, warmth, pain or lumps under the arm). If we can also understand more about the disease, quicker diagnosis and better treatments may be found in the future. So far all my treatments have been based on trials with 'normal' non-IBC patients.

If you want to support this amazing cause you can donate via Just Giving website. Any amount little or small will be grateful.

More information on spotting the signs of IBC and how the charity supports IBC research is in the link below

https://ibcnetworkuk.org/whatisibc/#IBCSymptoms