my story is that I’ve spent most of my adult life, rock climbing, mountaineering, mountain biking (although not one of my better skills) with my wonderful husband of 11 years and together for 17 years.

We have built our lives around having adventures, we’ve travelled all over the world (didn’t make it to down under) to climb, bike, hike and just generally explore beautiful places.

We bought a beautiful cottage in north wales in 21 to be close to all the things we love doing, I took up paddleboarding and open water swimming (fair weather swimmer though).

Late summer 22, I found a small lump on the back of my left thigh, it was increasing in size quite quickly, fortunately I have a very astute GP who sent me for an emergency ultrasound, within 6 weeks, I had the diagnosis that I’d got a soft tissue sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, which needed to be removed and followed with radiotherapy to ensure it didn’t return. That was December 22, my father in law passed away the day before we receive the diagnosis.

February to April 23, we moved back down to the midlands to go through my FiL house and to receive radiotherapy at the QE as it was closer than travelling from where we lived in north wales to Manchester daily.

We returned home in April, to be told that the latest CT scan on my lungs had shown that the sarcoma had spread to my lungs and was growing and that there was nothing they could do about it. We looked down many avenues and had second and third opinions, to be told the same thing, that my only option was palliative chemo. We were told that this would be my last summer of being fit and well enough to do anything, so we got on with it and did as much as we could. Chris took compassionate leave from work and we went on adventures, helicopter flight, boat trip, train trips, beach days, paddleboarding, a little bit of climbing whilst I could still manage it. We went to the Alps for a month with Crumble our puppy, who was totally in her element, then Chris and I took a cruise in the Caribbean, extending our summer as long as we possible could.

Just before the cruise, my health had started to deteriorate, a persistent cough, pains in my chest and back, it was then that I started needing to take painkillers, then the lower quadrant of my right lung collapsed due to a tumour on one of my airways.

I had chemo over Christmas for 3 cycles (doxorubicin) but the side effects were brutal and the halfway scan showed that the tumours were still growing. I started a drug called pazopanib in March, which I’m still on but it’s too early to tell whether it will help. It has 46% chance of stopping the tumours from growing, which will hopefully extend my life for as long as my body can tolerate the toxicity.

Earlier this week, another part of my right lung collapsed causing me excruciating pain on moving and breathing.

This cancer has taken everything away from me and my family, and will continue to do so for me and many other people whilst it remains a rare cancer. My particular subtype, spindle cell sarcoma, is an ultra rare form of the cancer affecting 0.06% of all people with cancer, Soft Tissue Sarcoma itself with its 100s of subtypes, makes up less than 2% of all cancer diagnosis.

The only charity in the UK that it putting money into research and support for soft tissue sarcoma is Sarcoma UK. Although it’s going to be too late to help me, I want to help others get the funding for the research to find a way of preventing or curing this horrible disease.

Many of my friends on Facebook are sharing my journey because I post updates on a fairly regular basis, I’ve been told I’m strong and I’m brave and I’m an inspiration. But in reality, I’m just a person, who has terminal cancer and who wants to raise awareness for other people and other peoples families in a similar situation.

I’m supporting Sarcoma UK, a national charity that funds vital research, offers support for anyone affected by sarcoma cancer and campaigns for better treatments. Sarcoma is a type of cancer that develops in the bone and soft tissue. It is difficult to diagnose and one of the hardest to treat. By supporting me, we can help change this. Your donation will help researchers find answers, keep our Support Line open, and raise awareness to improve treatment and standards of care.

Thank you for your support.

In addition to this, a wonderful team of friends have done the Ivanhoe Way, which is a 36 mile walk in Leistershire. They’re all absolutely amazing and have managed to top up the fundraising from just under £2000, to over £3000. I’ve included some pictures from their hike.