Story
The memory of being picked up from the station after work on 20th July this year will, sadly, stick with me forever. As most of you are aware, in July 2017 my Pops was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. Unfortunately, it was caught very late and had already spread to the Lymph Nodes, the bones and adrenal glands. As you can imagine, this was a massive shock for me and my family, as well as life changing - especially for my Dad! After two heart surgeries in 18 months, we thought he would finally have his well deserved and peaceful retirement, with plans to go skiing and have lots of holidays with my gorgeous mum. An x-ray revealed the shadow after he had a pacemaker fitted at the beginning of July - so in a way we are grateful that he needed that surgery.
It wasn't all bad news though, he had "qualified" for a new, cutting edge treatment called immunotherapy (google it, it is super clever!) at the Royal Marsden in Sutton. This Royal Marsden Charity not only means a great deal to the Johnsons but also to many others, some of who are extremely close to us, who have also had to use the incredible service that the hospital offers, not only in treatments but support too. We only have them to thank for the great care they give to my dad, who has been treated with professionalism, sensitivity and kindness, so running the Marathon is my way of thanking them.
This treatment worked miracles and shrunk the lung tumour and reduced the cancer in the Lymph Nodes and bones. All very positive signs and he was living a relatively normal life.
Unfortunately on Friday 15th December we found out that the cancer has now spread to the brain and so the treatment plan Dad is currently on will have to be changed. We do hope that at some point he might move back on to the immunotherapy infusions because it is honestly revolutionary...so we are keeping everything crossed.
I hope you will all support me over the next 5/6 months whilst I endure the mega training involved for 22nd April 2018, every little bit counts :) So thank you for the donations, it means a lot to me and my family, as well as The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
Lj xxx
P.S If anyone wants to volunteer for a training run with me, be it part of the run or all of the run, that would be amazing so please let me know!