In May of 2013, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I was an otherwise happy, healthy, and relatively fit girl, had just qualified for BUCS Nationals with my university equestrian team, was doing great in uni, everything was a dream really!
I was forced to interrupt my university studies a week before final exams were set to begin. I went back to America and had 2 biopsies to confirm the diagnosis, and was officially diagnosed with stage 2a Hodgkin's disease. I was set 6 cycles (12 doses, once every two weeks) of ABVD chemotherapy.
My world suddenly turned upside-down, and all there was to do was face treatment head on. By the 3rd treatment my hair was coming out in clumps, and on July 3rd (the same day Luke, my long-term boyfriend and UK native was meant to fly in to visit me for a month!) I shaved my head completely. Luckily I'd never been too attached to my hair!

Treatment was really hard on me at first, but I adapted quickly and I coped quite well. I continued riding throughout treatment, and only had to stop temporarily when I got a blood infection after I'd had a port put in in September. From there, I had a PICC line and was unable to use my left arm for the final 2 months.

I finished chemotherapy on November 12, 2013 and had a clean PET scan on December 20th, putting me officially in remission! It was less than a month later that I returned to Manchester to resit my second semester of my second year.

Cancer is one of those things that makes you realise how much your friends and family really love you, and I couldn't be more thankful to the many, many people both in america and the UK that kept me smiling and positive whilst I dealt with this :)

May will mark a year from my diagnosis and I really want to do something special and positive to mark the occassion. As I've been working on regaining my fitness since finishing chemo, i figured a run would be the perfect way to inspire me while raising money for Lymphoma research!
Luke will be joining me on this run, which suits because he was my rock (even from afar!) whilst I trudged through the difficult treatments.

We hope to raise at least 200 pounds, but any donation amount would be thoroughly appreciated! :)





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