Hi everyone,

Me and my close friend Nat are running the Warrington Half Marathon in September for the Chris Aked Foundation — a small charity that gives families affected by cancer the chance to make special memories together through days out and experiences with their children. They also help fund extracurricular and therapy sessions. We’ve both received such generous support from the charity and we’d love to give back.

Both Nat and I, were diagnosed with cancer just weeks apart towards the end of 2024.

I was diagnosed with CML, a chronic type of Leukemia, which is usually quite easily treated; however, all oral chemotherapy options tried to date have failed to get my results within a safe range. Up until very recently, we were actively preparing for a 4–6 week admission to Clatterbridge for intensive conditioning and allogeneic stem cell transplant, which would also have meant time apart from the children due to the isolation requirements. However, I have since been accepted onto a clinical trial at Hammersmith Hospital. Due to the stubbornness of the cancer cells that are left in my body, there is still a very real possibility that I may need a stem cell transplant later this year. So I’m leaning into the uncertainty by getting back into running again.

Nat was diagnosed with grade 3 pregnancy-associated breast cancer and has since undergone a mastectomy, six months of intensive chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, with further surgery still ahead. She has recently commenced 10 years of hormone treatment alongside two years on a drug similar to oral chemotherapy, which comes with ongoing difficult side effects. Despite all of this, she’s staying focused on being as healthy as possible and has eagerly agreed to join me in this challenge.

Throughout everything, with our partners Liam and Sam, our focus has always been our little people.

As close friends, we’re training and running together despite the side effects, symptoms, uncertainty, and difficult days because, luckily, we still can.

Every step and every mile we will run is for the families living with and through cancer, for the families who are desperately not wanting cancer to headline their children’s childhoods and for ourselves — a reminder that cancer does not get to define everything.

If our run can help give even one family a day to smile, laugh, and forget for a moment about the reality they’re living with, we’d be incredibly grateful.

Anything you can give will mean the world to us.

‘Even in the darkest moments, a mother’s love shines brighter than fear’