8 months ago on 23 February 2015 I was diagnosed with an invasive breast cancer and life as I knew it ended that Monday. Little did I know that even worse news would follow after the surgery when pathology results would show that the cancer was even more advanced. Just as my mother 15 years ago, I had to embark on the rollercoaster of hospital appointments and months of gruelling treatment. I went through a bilateral mastectomy that left me with two rather perky new breasts, followed by 16 weeks of chemo and 3 weeks of radiotherapy which eventually ended on 6 November 2015. My body and my spirit took a massive hit and my family, friends and co-workers were bearing the brunt of that every step of the way.

Cancer Research’s commitment to fund clinical research and an ongoing search for new treatment regimens gave me a chance that my mother had not had. Cancer treatment has made a leap forward in the past 10 years but so much is still to be done and every woman facing challenges that I am now so acutely aware of, should be given every chance to survive and come on the other side healthy and strong.

Cancer Research Winter Run is my way to feel alive again and a big thank you to all of you who supported me and cheered for me when the going was getting really tough over the past 8 months. I can now say that I survived cancer and I wish everybody else would get the same or even better chance to beat it.

Please dig deep as every pound will fund more research into new drugs,
especially immunotherapy routes (a much less toxic alternative to chemotherapy) which are still in its infancy when it comes to breast cancer but the possibilities are amazing. I do believe that together we can beat cancer, as a survivor and a daughter of the breast cancer survivor I know that there is hope, please help me make it happen!