So it's 2019, the year that I have decided to make my personal & physical challenge year, a little crazy I guess, but hey we only live once, so why the hell not. 

For those of you that don't know me or my story, I was diagnosed with stage 3 triple negative breast cancer on 22nd November 2017, at the age of 42. It's a rare & aggressive & found in about 1 in 5 women with breast cancer (15-20%). But despite the hell, I've been one of the lucky ones. After 18 lots of hair losing chemotherapy, a lumpectomy, removal of 6 lymph nodes & 15 rounds of radiotherapy, I had a complete response & on the 9th September 2018, I was officially cancer free! 

On New Years Eve I ran my first 10km/6.2 miles and by 3rd March I ran my first ever half marathon 21km/13.1 miles in 2 hours 25 minutes.  

My second challenge was a Spartan Sprint Race 14th July. This race puts endurance aside & tests your quickness through 5km loaded with 19 obstacles. Failure to complete an obstacle resulted in having to complete 30 burpees, thankfully I only had to do 130!

I then decided that the next thing to do was to take on The Yorkshire Peaks challenge on 27th July. A 24 mile/368.6km route which includes 1585m/5200ft of ascent all to be completed within 12 hours. The rain came down, the wind blew up and the visibility stole the stunning scenery. I briefly considered just for a moment to throw the towel in as I got to 18th mile to refuel at the support car. I was cold, tired, wet and it would have been so easy just to get in that car, but then I remembered how privileged I was to be standing there do what I was doing, there was no way in hell I was giving in! 

I want to take 2019 as the year I take back control of my body, to give myself positive challenges, which benefits my health & in doing so I have chosen 3 charities that I would love to raise an equal amount of money for over the course of the year. 

My biggest fear, in fact, every cancer patients fear is recurrence, which is why one of my chosen charities is Against Breast Cancer. Against Breast Cancer is a charity dedicated to funding groundbreaking research to improve detection, treatment & increase survival after breast cancer diagnosis. The reality of triple negative breast cancer is that the survival rates are lower than other breast cancers, 77% compared with 93% over 5 years. Which is why so much more research is needed into recurrence. 

One of the worst parts of having been through cancer treatment is to mentally try to understand what the hell just happened! Every ounce of you is concentrating so hard to try & fight through this horrendous disease, that you don't really have time to think about what's actually happening to you. At the end of being told that you are all clear, you're pushed back out into the world to get on with it & if I'm honest it's almost as hard as going through the actual treatment, which is why Macmillian is another of my chosen charities. Not only was all my chemo treatment given to me by the amazing Macmillian nurses, but all my aftercare has come from them too. I have had months of one to one therapy sessions as well as being able to attend a 6 week moving forward course to help me mentally carry on. All of this has been free & so very valuable to me & my mental health.

My final charity is one that is so very close to my heart & always will be & that's Sophie's Smile Fund, a supporter group of the Brain Tumour Charity. Sophie was just 9 years old when she was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour, very sadly that brain tumour took Sophie when she was far too young. Brain tumour research is massively underfunded, yet is it the biggest cancer killer in children & adults under the age of 40. Now that I have a better understanding of what Sophie had to go through, the thought of anyone, let alone a child having to go through what Sophies did is just horrendous. Being able to help raise vital research funds to help all of those with brain tumours to be as lucky as I am today would be a really amazing thing to do. 

My hope is to find another challenge for the year, maybe more & at the same time try & give something back to these amazing charities. Any donation, no matter how small would mean the absolute world to me to know that we've somehow made a difference to someone else's life. 

Thank you for taking the time to read about me, my goal, my story. 

Tash