I have been lucky enough to secure a place in the London marathon to run and raise money for Against Breast Cancer. Against Breast Cancer funds pioneering research into new treatments, tools for earlier diagnosis and advice to reduce the risk of recurrence and secondary spread. They work with expert scientists to increase the survival rates of all breast cancer patients and ultimately, discover a vaccine against breast cancer.

Breast cancer has a very significant impact on the lives of members of 3 members of my family - my mum, my auntie and my great auntie.

The main reason for running the 26.2 miles is to honour my mum and share her story and spread awareness.

In July 2021 my mum was diagnosed with stage 3 invasive breast cancer after noticing a TINY amount of discharge, come out of her left nipple as she was getting dressed one morning. As her sister and maternal auntie had also both been diagnosed with breast cancer previously, she knew not to ignore this. She couldn't feel any lumps and after seeing a doctor the same day and later a consultant in Telford (neither being able to feel any lumps either) she was sent for a mammogram which showed a mass. An follow up ultrasound and biopsy confirmed her fears. She had the breast tissue & 5.5 millimeter lump removed and an implant fitted whilst she underwent 6 rounds of (bloody awful) chemotherapy then radiotherapy. Mum then took a test to determine whether she had a mutation in her BRCA2 gene (as this was the 3rd case of breast cancer in her family) - BRCA2 are tumor suppressor genes that everyone has and they are crucial for repairing damaged DNA and preventing cancer, but inherited mutations in them significantly increase the risk of breast, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic cancers, often at younger ages, affecting both men and women and these mutations are passed down through families. She tested positive, meaning she was 70% more likely to develop breast cancer in her lifetime and 17% more likely to develop ovarian cancer. So following this result, she decided to have a double masectomy/double breast reconstruction (14 hour operation) and a full hystorectomy, both of these HUGE operations eliminating/decreasing the chance of ovarian cancer developing and breast cancer returning. Mum has recovered well and is healthy but she went through a very long, scary and painful process. She has been put on medication for 10 years following her diagnosis and has acid infusions every 6 months to help prevent bone cancer.

I will be thinking of all that she endured whilst running 26.2 gruelling miles around London on Arpil 26th.

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