In April 2024, my world changed immeasurably when I found a lump. At the time I naively believed that my small tumor, my age and modern medicine meant I’d have “one shit year” and then I’d go back to living my life with cancer in the rearview mirror.

That might be the case for some people with some types of cancers but unfortunately not for me. I had a mastectomy and chemotherapy and am just over half way through my targeted therapy and 18 months into 10 years (!) of hormone therapy.

The drugs I now take daily are gnarly to put it politely. The chemo effects lasts long past the duration of it and the surgery effects go beyond just 4 weeks of healing. I also have a knack for picking up weird side effects along the way.

So in the spirit of being a bit unusual, I took up running to cope. It sounds counterintuitive because fatigue, stiff joints, aches and slow to heal ligaments and tendons are not runner friendly side effects but its given me focus after chemo. And to give myself what felt like the ultimate focus/target I decided to run a marathon. I’ve been training for it quietly since chemo finished, in January 2025, waiting for the other shoe to drop and side effects to force me onto the couch. But now York Marathon is 5 months away and my confidence that I’m physically able to complete it is growing. Turns out whoever said “you can’t run from your feelings” hasn’t met anyone as stubborn as me.

So on the 18th of October I am going to run the Yorkshire Marathon.

To make things more chaotic, I have decided to move house as well as train for a marathon. So I have created this fundraiser so I am not tempted to put it off. Its also not coincidental timing that I met some incredibly inspiring women at an event a few weeks ago which confirmed for me that I wanted to raise awareness and funds for a particular charity as part of this personal challenge.

I am raising money for Flat Friends UK. A charity dedicated to supporting women who have had mastectomy surgery without breast reconstruction, including those who may face such decisions now or in the future. 1 in 7 women will get breast cancer in their lifetimes and around half of mastectomies are now done without immediate reconstruction. They provide emotional and practical support to affected women, as well as driving change in the attitudes of health care providers to make a difference to women’s experience. Please feel free to ask me more about this charity or read more what they do here: https://flatfriends.org.uk/our-vision/

If you are able to donate to this cause, I would be very grateful. They have been invaluable to me and it would mean the world to me to be able to support their vision.