In July last year, for some lucky reason, a routine mammogram became available for my Mum which she wasn’t due to have until February 2019. I say lucky because my Mum was diagnosed with early stage but fast growing breast cancer and I dread to think what the outcome would’ve been had she had to wait another 7 months. Since finding out, she’s had almost 5 months of chemotherapy at the Royal Marsden in Sutton and has a double mastectomy and reconstruction surgery at the Royal Marsden in Chelsea at the end of next month. The doctors anticipate she’ll be well on the way to recovery by the summer. My Mum also found that she has the BRCA gene mutation that makes it significantly more likely for people affected by it to develop breast or ovarian cancer during their life. The genetics team at the Royal Marsden will offer counselling and testing to my siblings and I in case we’ve inherited the BRCA gene. That’s a very brief summary of the last 7 months that doesn’t at all capture how hard it’s been emotionally and physically for my Mum, and how scary it’s been for all of the family and anyone close to her. Having said that, anyone that knows her will also know how strong she is and she’s done unbelievably well in the face of a horrible disease and very frightening news.

I’m eternally thankful to the Royal Marsden, the hospital at which she has received all her treatment and the surgery. The Royal Marsden is internationally recognised as a leading hospital for the treatment of cancer and the quality of care my Mum has received has been truly second to none. The nurses have made her life during treatment easier and filled it with laughter, and their consultants, who are all leading experts in their field, have been fully informative and confidence inspiring when it seemed difficult to see any positives. It’s rare that a hospital is described as a very special place but that’s how my Mum put it when I asked her what the Royal Marsden means to her. My Dad said that he likes the full English breakfast there!

All going as planned, my Mum will be well enough to watch me trundle around the course at the London Marathon on 28th April 2019 and I can’t thank the Royal Marsden enough for allowing that to be the case. Having signed up for a charity place to run for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, my overriding motivation is to raise money for an organisation very close to our hearts. That being said, I’ve always wanted to run a marathon and 28th April 2019 is the day I hope to tick that bucket list item off. At 5 ft 6 and having been on the GB judo team for several years, I’m not your typical marathon runner shape and I hope to put that stereotype to the test. I’ve also got the added motivation of my older (by 9 minutes) and less good looking identical twin brother, Tom, running the Brighton Marathon two weeks before to spur me on. He’s also running for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and a link to his page will be posted here when his page goes live. 

If you’ve got this far, thanks very much for reading and keep your eyes peeled for updates on how the journey is going. Will


The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity raises money solely to support The Royal Marsden, a world-leading cancer centre. We ensure our nurses, doctors and research teams can provide the very best care and develop life-saving treatments, which are used across the UK and around the world. From funding state-of-the-art equipment and groundbreaking research, to creating the very best patient environments, we will never stop looking for ways to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.