It was 29^th July 1995 when we received the news that mum was terminally ill.  The lead up to her diagnosis I have since learned was typical; several visits to her GP due to constant coughing and difficulty swallowing, several courses of antibiotics, before being referred for a CT scan some time later, which delivered the devastating result.  Lung Cancer.

Like a lot of people we had been oblivious to the signs and symptoms of the disease and mum was diagnosed too late for any effective treatment.  13 short weeks later on 11 November my beautiful, caring, wonderful mum died.  She was just 51. This wasn’t the first time lung cancer had devastated our family as it had taken mum’s dad some years earlier and more recently we lost mum’s mum to the disease too.

Now, almost 20 years on and I manage the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation’s research portfolio.  We are the only UK charity wholly dedicated to defeating lung cancer.  I believe that one day one of the projects we fund will identify a gene, or a blood test, or a breadth test, or a risk model, that will see lung cancer diagnosed at an early stage when it can be as successfully treated as breast cancer is today.  The research we are funding is exciting and we are beginning to see small signs of progress.  We WILL get there.  But more research is required and that means more money.

As mum’s 20th anniversary approaches I have decided to try and add some money to the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation research pot by running in the Liverpool Spring 10k.  I’m not particularly fit, I’m definitely not a runner and I have arthritic knees but I am determined to complete the race and raise as much money as I can in memory of my mum, my nana and granddad, but above all for a better outcome for those with a lung cancer diagnosis in the future. 

I hope you will help us to beat lung cancer by sponsoring me in running the Liverpool Spring 10k.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page, your support would be very much appreciated.

Jackie x

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