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In September, I am going to walk the last 115km of the Camino de Santiago in north west Spain from Sarria to Santiago de Compostella. It is something I have wanted to do for a while .

In January 2014, I was diagnosed with breast cancer – and having worked as a physiotherapist in a cancer setting for almost twenty years this came as a heavy blow. Memories of all the people I had looked after with the same diagnosis, and who had died, were always with me and it was hard sometimes to see beyond them. However with the help of many people, see beyond them I did, and after surgery and radiotherapy five years ago, here I am well and cancer free!

Cancer had also touched my life thirty-five years ago when
my first child died during labour, although at the time it was not the main cause of distress. Her post- mortem revealed she would have developed neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancer affecting children that occurs in certain types of nerve tissue. To this day when I hear of, or see a child with neuroblastoma, it strikes at my heart.

In my work with cancer patients, I  was privileged to meet many people , patients and their family members a significant number of whom I remember to this day; ranging from those dying with the disease, to those living with the sometimes horrific long term effects of not only  the cancer, but also  its treatments. I learned a great deal from each and every one of them – but of everything I learnt, the most important thing to understand is that life is precious, and we should never
take a second of it for granted.  

So I decided that now five years after being diagnosed, it was time to take on a challenge and use it to give something back to help others who are either in the "cancer world" as my friend calls it, or will be joining it in the future. Two further events had triggered this decision - the first was the death from breast cancer of an incredibly brave young Mum who was a friend of our eldest daughter, and the second was the death of a very dear friend from secondary prostate cancer.

As a result, I decided I would do this walk for a cancer research charity and dedicate it to the memory of all those I know, and have known, who live with, or have died because of, cancer. My walking companion is not only a very special friend but also the soul mate of our friend who died of prostate cancer- and I couldn't think of doing the walk without her!

Every two minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with cancer -it could easily happen to any one of us, so research is vitally important for every one of us.

I have chosen Cancer Research UK as my charity for this walk. They are the world's largest cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research. Their vision is to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured, from the most common types to those that affect just a few people.

Amongst many other research projects, they have funded the following which are close to my heart:

The METABRIC study -research giving deeper understanding of why some breast cancers are hard to treat. The researchers discovered that breast cancer is in fact many different sub types of cancer and that patients can be treated differently based on their molecular profile. This means many women now receive therapywith fewer side effects and greater efficacy.

Big data brings breast cancer research forward by "decades" - Scientists
have created a "map" linking cell shape and genes in breast cancer, and
matched it to real disease outcomes -providing new insights for future
therapies.

The STAMPEDE trial which showed that giving Abiraterone (a prostate cancer drug) earlier, extends the lives of men whose disease has spread

They have been involved in a 10 year study that improves the survival  with neuroblastoma. This is helping change the way that young children with this disease are treated, both in the UK and across Europe.

Any support helps CRUK to fund life-saving research into the causes, prevention and treatment of cancer.

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Thank you