This is our beautiful friend Anita. Anita is 43, and is a mum to three sons, aged 1, 7 and 21.
At the age of 29, Anita began suffering with sight issues, and was diagnosed with Acute Zonal Occult Outer Retinopathy (AZOOR). Over the following few years, Anita’s sight deteriorated further, meaning that since 2017 she has had very limited sight. Despite this, Anita always remains positive, and is an active member of the running community, running marathons and half marathons and raising funds and awareness for the Fight for Sight charity.
In 2021, Anita underwent major surgery to remove her spleen and most of her pancreas, along with a large tumour on her pancreas. Again, after a long recovery, Anita once again came back fighting, starting training in February 2022 for a half marathon, and by June she was back to running 10 miles and her positive attitude continued to inspire those around her.
Unfortunately, there was another set back in store for Anita. In July 2022, Anita collapsed unexpectedly, and has since been diagnosed with high grade non Hodgkin lymphoma, which was already at an advanced stage as it had already spread to her lungs and her brain. In August 2022, Anita underwent brain surgery to de-bulk the tumour in her brain (a six hour operation during which she had to remain awake), which successfully removed a large amount of the tumour. She is currently undergoing an intense programme of chemotherapy to reduce the remaining tumour in her brain and her lungs. It is a fast growing cancer of the blood, which is why the treatment is so intense and a lot more complicated. As it is an extremely intensive programme, Anita is spending most of her time in hospital, and when she is at home, she is extremely tired and in a huge amount of pain.
Anita’s husband is doing an amazing job looking after both Anita and their boys, but as a family they are missing out on family time together. Anita has been our inspiration for so many years, and we would like to raise funds so that once she has fought this latest battle (which is undoubtedly the hardest battle she has had to face), they can have some time away as a family to make some fantastic new memories.
Anita is the strongest, bravest, kindest person you could ever hope to meet, so please help us give Anita, her husband and her boys some much deserved family time.
Sam, Emma & Katie