Sharon's Race for Sarah
Sharon Batty is raising money for Cancer Research UK
Story
I am doing the Race for Life this year for 1 reason. Although I needed to get fit and lose some weight I could have done that any number of ways but last September, I went to visit my beloved cousin in Eastbourne Hospital.
Her BRCA2 type breast cancer was aggressive and drug resistant (research is underway to find alternative treatments). It had metastasised and was in her lungs, liver and worst of all, her brain. I knew she was seriously ill, I knew they had said the next 2 weeks were critical but I had not allowed myself to contemplate what happened that day.
While I held her hand and stroked her hair she slipped away, leaving a 7 year old son and a daughter 3 days before her 3rd birthday. My heart fell apart that day and though it is mending it will never be whole again. I thought we would grow into a pair of mischievous twinkly-eyed old ladies watching our kids start their own families. She was a wonderful woman, always so cheerful, patient and funny. One of our last text conversations pretty much sums up our relationship. It was shortly before she went into hospital, the tumour in her brain made her dizzy and unsteady on her feet:
Sarah: I'm going to try and do some Xmas shopping though I look drunk!
Me: but would I notice the difference? ;-)
Sarah: Nah, but I got swagger like Jagger!
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK.
The lifetime risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer is 1 in 8 for women in the UK. (50-80% higher for those with the BRCA2 gene).
In the UK in 2010 more than 49,500 women were diagnosed with breast cancer, that's around 136 women a day.
Female breat cancer incidence rates in Great Britain have increased by almost 70% since the mid-1970s.
Please support me - to race 5k is a real achievement for me but I want it to be an achievement in the race to stop cancer taking more mums away from their kids. Thanks x
Thank you for visiting my Race for Life sponsorship page. Please dig deep and sponsor me online - it's quick, easy and totally secure.
Events like Race for Life are vital in funding Cancer Research UK's life-saving work into preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer. By sponsoring me, we can unite and create a force that cancer can't ignore.
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If you are a UK taxpayer, please remember to tick the Gift Aid box when donating as this will increase your donation by at least 25% at no cost to you.
Sponsor me now, and we can become cancer's worst nightmare!
Many thanks for your support. Together we will beat cancer.