Back in July 2018 I was diagnosed with a molar pregnancy, I was told that something had gone wrong during conception leading to placental cells growing uncontrollably. This is usually dealt with by performing a DNC and very few women need further treatment after this. So, this is what we did. They told me they would take frequent blood tests for a couple of weeks afterwards to make sure everything was going alright.

I believed everything would be returning to normal from then and went back to work for two weeks and then on holiday. Obviously, things didn't go as planned. On my second day in Sweden, I got a call from Charing Cross informing me that I needed to come in as soon as possible. I didn't understand what was going on. I was on an island in the middle of nowhere in a different country and now someone told me on the phone that I needed to go to a hospital ASAP to receive Chemo therapy and not move in between, because that could cause life-threatening bleeding.

My friends drove me to the airport that night and I flew back to the UK and went straight to Charing Cross. They did a lovely job explaining everything to me then. My tumour (that should have been removed by the DNC) came back and continued to grow and we needed to move on to a light form of chemo to keep it in check.

I stayed in Charing Cross for a week and then continued to have chemo for another six months afterwards. And then, in January, I was "fine" again, slowly crawling my way back to normal, glad to finally leave all of this behind me.

For the entire six months, I was strongly discouraged from doing any form of physical exercise, because it could lead to severe bleeding. Obviously, the only thing I wanted to do (on the good days) was some exercise. So, I made a plan. When all this was over, I would do a triathlon.

And so I started. There were many times in between when I cursed myself for having this brilliant idea, but I stuck with it and am now actually looking forward to my Triathlon on the 22nd of September.

So, why am I asking for your money?

Researchers at Charing Cross are currently developing a test that could tell women with molar pregnancies at the point of their DNC whether they need further treatment or not. This could give many women peace of mind and would lead to earlier treatment for those who need it. At the very least, this would keep anyone else from getting those news and then having to take a canoe for an hour to the nearest car to drive to the airport, fly back home and then battle TFL before they could actually find out what is going on with them.

Charing Cross estimates they'll need £2,000,000 to develop this test. We're not going to raise all of it, but maybe we can make a difference.

I can do a triathlon; can you press that "donate" button?

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