As most of you know, I, Marianne, have breast cancer which has spread, but is very much under control. With the “couldn’t have done it without you” support of my husband Richard, family, friends, my employer and colleagues and an amazing medical team at the London Oncology Clinic, I am in good health and living a fairly normal life.
I have been on this journey for over three and a half years now and most of the time I am fine (sometimes I completely forget about it), but when scans come back with bad results it is awful. I have experienced this a few times, but every time my outstanding oncologist team, led by the highly regarded and charismatic Dr. Paul Ellis, has come up with a new solution to tackle the cancer.
The main motivation for doing this marathon is to “give something back” to Dr. Paul Ellis and his oncology team by raising money for the projects, studies and general research his team and colleagues are involved in which lead to ideas, drugs and drug combinations which are critical in keeping people in my situation not just alive, but also able to enjoy a good standard of living.
More specifically, it will support the ground-breaking research Professor Tony Ng and Dr. Paul Ellis are doing at King’s College and Guy’s Hospital in London. Here they are one of a few in the world working on imaging techniques to identify which drugs will best benefit individual patients, including HER2 positive breast cancer. HER2 positive is the most aggressive form of breast cancer, and unfortunately the one I have. The research started in 2005 and to date they have been able to examine the individual behaviors of many different proteins within the context of their surroundings (don’t switch off!). This is vital for building up a high-resolution picture of how protein networks allow cancerous cells to replicate in the body and how drugs influence this molecular process. The scientists hope to create a network model, representative of all receptor associated molecular activity, and ultimately hope to classify patients according to the characteristics of their protein network interactions, so that predictions can be made about which drugs will be effective for particular patients. At the moment the effectiveness of available drugs on individuals is not predictable in this proposed way.
I know first hand how difficult and upsetting it is to go through painful rounds of treatments only to find they were not effective, then having to try something else while all you can do is cross your fingers and hope it works. The above research can make a real difference from the outset, by allowing the patient to get the most optimal treatment right from the beginning and therefore avoid the existing “trial and error” process which can often give the cancer time and opportunity to develop.
I am a firm believer in positive thinking and mind over matter; nevertheless, I am intelligent and humble enough to know that a positive mindset, love and support is unfortunately not enough to beat this disease. I and others in my situation very much need the critical medical support this type of research brings.
Now for the training….
Throughout my whole life I have been sporty and active, but over the summer of 2009 the side effects of all the chemo were such that I could not walk up the stairs without having to pause for breath. This gradually improved during the autumn and I was once again back to doing very short and very slow runs. It is hard to describe that feeling of complete joy and appreciation when something so simple has been taken away from you and you get it back. Around the same time my very good friend, Robbie, mentioned he could maybe get us two places in the London Marathon and it all started from there…Robbie has 10 marathons behind him and I’m extremely grateful he is dedicating all of his fund raising efforts, exhaustive training and of course the marathon to this project.
Also, from a more self-serving purpose, I have spoken to all the key medical people who help me, and this is also widely accepted in the medical world, exercise and running is a great combater and fighter of cancer. To quote my surgeon, Professor Kiefer Mokbell “run Marianne, just run, the more the better”. So I am doing this with a full endorsement and encouragement of my doctors. Robbie is firstly motivated by raising the target money and secondly to get his time under 3 hours and 50 minutes!
We have ambitious target of £26,218.75, which will all go to DCC, Professor Tony Ng and Dr. Paul Ellis’s research project (registered charity number 247558). Why such an exact £££ number – well it is the exact distance of a marathon – 26.21875 miles – pretty neat huh!!
We are both lucky to know such generous people, both personally and professionally, that we are confident we can raise this amount by Sunday 25 April 2010 and we thank you greatly in advance for your help and contribution to this cause – it means so much to us and will make a difference to countless people in a similar situation to me.
On the day itself we hope to see as many of you there as possible, it’s a great day out, and afterwards we will throw a post-marathon party – but more about that nearer the time.
Training Update - January:
Marianne started training in November and Robbie in December, but we started in earnest now in January. We are both currently doing about 25 km per week, and by end of January the aim is to have done one “long-run” of about 15 km. Despite being Norwegian Marianne is not enjoying this “big freeze”, but hey all you need is just another jumper and a thicker hat. We both went shoe shopping last week (no Jimmy Choo’s for this one), which was childishly exciting, so we are wrapped up, hooked up to the ipod’s and so ready to do this!!
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