Well here I am again, another year and another lot of fundraising for a charity that is extremely close to my heart – so thanks for taking the time to read my story.

All of you that have very kindly sponsored me previously, will know that I have raised over £4000 in the last 3 years for my efforts for Leukaemia and Lymphoma at the Wilmslow Half Marathon in 2014, the New York Marathon last year for Bloodwise and now I am raising for Anthony Nolan by taking part in a few half marathons and 2 marathons from the World Series. 

The first time I did any real running was back in 2012 when my best friend got ALL type leukaemia and had an extremely rough ride of chemotherapy treatments as well as picking up pneumonia over Xmas before making any progress and being given the all clear.

My husband and I, and Dave and Shelley, our two best friends went to Iceland to celebrate no more chemo and being cancer free in January 2016 and we had the best time ever!  However in May 2016, Dave felt poorly with a cold and after a couple of weeks went to see his consultant and was told that a different type of leukaemia (AML) was present and had hit him in a much more aggressive manner.  He was advised that he had a few months left to live unless he had a stem cell transplant together with radiotherapy and more chemotherapy.  His two sisters were tested and unfortunately were not a match and they had to source someone from the Anthony Nolan register.

Hearing the news all over again hit all of us extremely hard and myself and my husband made a pact that no matter what we were doing or what plans we had that we would be there for our friends and their 2 children to help them through it, and so did other family members and friends.

Dave started chemo straight away and was admitted into hospital, and thankfully he had a 100% stem cell match within a matter of weeks who was a 26 year old Belgium chap which was activated straight away by Dave’s consultant.   Those people that understand the stem cell process will know that the chemo and radiotherapy in hand is something that you can’t really recover from without the new stemcell so it was a very stressful and scary time! 

On 14^th September 2016, Dave had has transplant and within a few weeks was home with his family recovering, and then he was told after a few more tests that the stemcell hadn’t worked and he might have his last Xmas with his family.

Dave being the stubborn bugger that he is (and we wouldn’t have him any other way), didn’t give up and within a matter of a month started to see an increase in red blood cells and the stemcell finally took over and started to fight the leukaemia.  

On 16^th November he attended his consultant and was told that he was going to be ok and that the stemcell had implanted!! If it wasn’t for the lovely and selfless guy who donated his stemcell,  and the work from Anthony Nolan in making
this happen in the first place there’s no doubt that Dave wouldn’t be here.

This little story is just a teeny snapshot of what happened and it’s a very tearful story and one that guts me every time I talk about it.  Nobody would want to imagine being in that position, but unfortunately for us our best friends were living it and are still living through the recovery stages.

A few of us are now raising funds for Anthony Nolan in a number of ways and hoping to also spread awareness of the donor register.  You can donate either by Anthony Nolan if you are under 30, or DKMS is for over 30’s!! 

Last year when I ran NYC Marathon I managed to get 32 people to get the DKMS sample kit and become potential lifesavers and I want to try and do the same this time around! Please get yourself onto the register with Anthony Nolan or DKMS – you could be a lifesaver and a real life hero and save someone’s life yourself!!

DKMS  https://www.dkms.org.uk/en 

Anthony Nolan  https://www.anthonynolan.org/8-ways-you-could-save-life/donate-your-stem-cells

For Xmas I booked Shelley, Dave’s wife, onto the Great North Half Marathon for Anthony Nolan and there will now be 5 of us now running GNR and two weeks later 3 of us will be taking part in the Berlin Marathon and I’ll be doing the London Marathon in 2018 on my own!  

If it wasn’t for the funds placed into these charities, then there wouldn’t be any success stories and second or even third chances at life!

Please sponsor and give generously…

Every day, Anthony Nolan saves the lives of people with a blood cancer or blood disorder. They do this by matching incredible individuals willing to donate their stem cells, to people who desperately need a lifesaving transplant. They also carry out cutting edge scientific research, fund specialist post-transplant nurses and support patients and their families through the transplant process and beyond. They won’t stop until they save the lives of everyone who needs a stem cell transplant. Every penny you donate brings them closer to that day.