Cancer and Ironman, a match made in heaven...

Ok, here goes...

In February 2019 I was diagnosed with uveal (ocular) melanoma in my left eye. A very rare cancer that resulted in me losing my left eye (as in it was removed, I didn't just lose it down the back of the sofa...

Life cracked on and I continued to live life, climbing mountains, completing marathons and being a mum and wifey (albeit knocking into people a bit more and with poor depth perception!) I had regular liver and spleen scans to check that the cancer hadn't spread and was always grateful when they came back clear.

Fast forward to my five year scan in April 2024 and unfortunately I received the call of doom. My most recent scans had detected liver mets... the cancer had not only spread but it was stage 4...there was no cure. I was given a 12 month prognosis. Dammit

Never one to stay knocked down for long and simply not accepting the 12 month prognosis, with the support of some unbelievable friends, I was able to access Chemosaturation treatment (you can read all about what it is and how it works in my blog!) and at this moment I am waiting to have scans to show what impact the treatment has had and what it means for my life expectancy.

In the middle of all of this going on, Ironman UK released a NEW event, taking place in my home city. I have ALWAYS wanted to take part in an Ironman event. I bought my first road bike 23 years ago with the view that I was going to do one, but never got round to it, and so when I saw that the event was not only was in my home city but taking place literally on my door step, at a time when my life was spiralling, I knew that I NEEDED to try my best to make it to the start line. I have a reputation with my husband of entering super hard stuff without thinking (100km Race to the Stones as a wedding present springs to mind...) but I think that Ironman coming to Leeds in 2025 was a sign, a sign to say 'keep on going and don't give up!' and a sign to say that I have more life left to give. It was also the perfect opportunity to rope my lovely friend Debs into it. You know what they say, a pain shared is a pain halved and so together on the 27th July in Leeds we will be attempting a 2.4mile swim, a 112mile bike ride and a marathon run all within a 17 hour cut off.

Not only is this going to be the biggest challenge of my life but I also want to raise money for Ocular Melanoma UK.They are the only UK charity that is dedicated to people affected by Ocular Melanoma by making sure that no one has to face this devastating disease alone. They are instrumental in advocating for new trials and treatments to be made available on the NHS and most recently have helped get the drug Tebentafusp approved by NICE which is now available to some patients with stage 4 liver mets which is having a tremendous impact on life expectancy for those who can have it. They are a really small charity doing so much work and every donation made is vital in ensuring that they can continue to work with and for those of us that are affected by Ocular Melanoma.

I am going to do my everything to make it to the start line and I would really really appreciate any support that you can give.

I know how difficult it is out in the world at the moment and I really appreciate you reading this far! Even if you can only share my story and raise awareness of Ocular Melanoma, that would be amazing.

Right, I'm off to ride my bike up some massive hills and eat a shed load of cake and pasta... there has to be some perks to training, right?!

Thanks folks!

Hx