On the first of November 2010 my whole world came crashing down. We received the news that my one and only sister was diagnosed with Leukaemia. I will never in my life forget that moment, the utter shock and disbelief I felt “this is a dream this can’t be happening to us, she has two small children… this can’t be happening”. But it was happening to us and quick decisions had to be made, in order to make sure her two gorgeous children Tauheed and Niall, who at the time were just 5 and 3 were looked after. I made my sacrafices & took on full time care of my nephews. I did this to ensure I could do everything in my power to make my sister proud of me and her children, so that when she was home again it would be as if she never left us.

She went through some gruelling rounds of chemotherapy. She was the bravest person I have ever known, never once complaining about the pain that she suffered and always thanking everyone for being there for her.

After 3 months of hard core chemotherapy, we got the news we had been waiting for – Tanzila was in remission. There was no more cancer left in her blood or bones. That day was probably the happiest day of my life and not long after, my sister and I started planning where we would go, what we would do, eat and see when she came out of the hospital.

This joy was short lived, however, as just 3 months later her back pain started. We all thought “the cancer can’t be back, it’s so soon..” but it was back and she knew it. We went through another two rounds of intense chemotherapy only to get the horrifying end result that there was nothing else that could be done other than to go home and enjoy the time that we had left together. After another fortnight at home, Tanzila was re-admitted to hospital and at that point it was just a matter of days before we lost her.

I will never forget her last words, “take care of them and make sure nothing ever happens to them”. I promised her that I would always watch over her children and remind them of what a truly amazing and inspirational person she was.

I will never forget her courage, her smile, her laugh and her strength. This is what will be running through my head as I run in honour of my sister, raising money for cancer research with my family and friends.

One in 3 people will be affected by cancer at some point in their lives, with hundreds of people in the UK being diagnosed with cancer each day. As Team Tanz, in Tanzila’s honour, we hope to raise as much as we can to support cancer research in the hope that one day, those unfortunate enough to fall victim to this disease will have more chance of surviving it.

Many thanks for your support. Together we will beat cancer.

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