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Sophie says...

I was diagnosed with grade 3/stage 3 triple negative breast cancer in January 2023. I found the initial lump whilst I was breastfeeding our third baby, and after an initial GP appointment, the rest was a whirlwind!

I have since had:

- 3 biopsies

- 3 or 4 ultrasounds and mammograms

- 2 MRI scans

- 15 rounds of chemotherapy

- 10 rounds of immunotherapy

- 1 mastectomy

- 5 sessions of radiotherapy

- too many blood tests to count

- more love and support than we could ever have imagined from our family and friends

This year may have been one of the most frightening for us, but it is not all doom and gloom! There have been moments of pure joy, and we have learnt to savour every moment and live life to the full....Calypso has turned 1, Persie has started school and made us so proud, and Charlie, well if you know him, he is the epitome of joy and living life to the full!

I am running this race for myself, to prove I can do this; for my children, to show them that anything is possible, especially with a smile on your face, and for Jack, who has always wanted me to run with him and has not left my side this whole year....I won't expect him to stay next to me for this race though as according to him he is way faster than me!

If you have got this far - thank you. And if you can spare some change for this amazing charity then thank you even more.

I am so lucky to have access to this treatment, which is available through vital research, which Breast Cancer Now helps to fund. 

Jack says...

Every day I think how lucky we are to live in a time where medicine is able to protect us from so many things that really quite recently would have been very bad news indeed.  But the science has only got to this stage after others have raised and donated money to fund this life-saving research. 

Now it is our turn to get out of our comfort zone and do this half marathon, to try and help others in a worse situation than we found ourselves in January 2023.  

At first things really did look quite bleak – the size of the lump, which then turned out to be 4 large lumps, plus the fact it was the most aggressive type, and the fact we had put off seeing the doctors for weeks, thinking it was something to do with the breastfeeding…. It really wasn’t much fun.  

I feel we got through this stage largely down to a mindset-mantra that the YouTube algorithm had put in front of me a few weeks before, whilst on daddy-day-care – from a lovely guy called Phil Campion, who went from being abused in an orphanage to serving in the SAS: 

1. Never feel sorry for yourself, as this leads to a downward spiral 

2. Instead, always find a positive from the negative – no matter how small, your brain will thank you for it!  

This mantra went hand-in-hand with a list we wrote called something like “10 reasons to be upbeat about the situation” – they had to be positive and they had to be true.  This really helped, to look at whenever someone was having a wobble. It was utterly transformative and that is putting it mildly.

Since then, thanks to some incredible work from the nurses and doctors, consultants etc on the oncology team, things are looking rosy again.  I am so proud of Sophie for getting through all the cold-caps and treatments without any of the children really having a clue about what was going on – she really has made it look quite easy, compared to what we were expecting at the start.  The phrase “badass” isn’t used much on this side of the pond but I feel it applies to Sophie in this instance!  Apart from the fact she has one less boob, you really wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Sophie now and 11 months ago.  

We chose the charity Breast Cancer Now for two reasons: 

1. They provided some really helpful and supportive literature throughout the process. 

2. They are focussing on finding a way to save the lives of people with secondary/stage 4 breast cancer.  Last January, this was the stage we thought we were in for a while, and we feel this is where the help is most needed.  

By the way, Sophie and I are not currently what you might describe as natural runners – she has always had at least 1 foot on the ground at all times since birth and I am a lanky streak with a sizeable collection of leg surgeries after various accidents!  Sophie is apparently almost enjoying her 5am training jogs in the dark, whereas the only time I can manage it is around the supper/bath/bedtime of the children lols

So if you have any spare change please consider making a donation to what we can attest to being a truly worthy organisation: Breast Cancer Now!

 Donation milestone forfeit pledges: 

£5k   Mohican with shaving either side (for the run) 

£10k   Keep Mohican for a month 

£15k   Run it wearing a Tottenham shirt 

£20k Start the run with a pint of cider