My Story

In July 2025 I was diagnosed with Oesophageal Cancer.  As someone who has never smoked, only drank in moderation, is not overweight, not an over 60s male and pretty fit, this came as a massive shock.  However as a mummy of 18 and 20 year old "children" I am absolutely determined to beat this.

In September 2025 I started treatment under the amazing care of The Royal Marsden and as of today I'm doing ok and living a very near normal life with cancer.  I've remained running to some level through my treatment and my running is encouraged by my oncologist due to aiding the chemo effectiveness

I am running the 2026 TCS London Marathon in support of The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. 

Although I have a history of running marathon distances and beyond this will be the biggest challenge of my life.  Both the cancer and the chemotherapy reduce my lactate threshold making my legs very heavy after only a couple of miles.  Added to that my haemoglobin levels are low and I am anemic so I am always running in oxygen deficit.  I almost certainly won't be able to run the full distance as all being well I will still be on chemo in April and I expect my finish time to be closer to 5 and half hours than the 3 and a half that I am used to.  However, it is really important that I do this to pay something back to the Marsden who are helping me maintain a really good quality of life.

The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity raises money to improve the lives of people affected by cancer. They ensure The Royal Marsden's world-leading nurses, doctors and research teams can provide the very best care and develop life-saving treatments, which are used across the UK and around the world. 

From funding state-of-the-art equipment and groundbreaking research, to creating the very best patient environments, they will never stop looking for ways to improve the lives of people affected by cancer. 

Please donate as little or as much as you are able x

UPDATE :  on 03 April 2026 I recieved the unexpected but amazing news that my latest PET scan shows "a complete metabolic response" with "no residual active disease in the oesophagus, no other sites of active nodal or metastatic disease".  I will continue to have Chemo till June as planned so will still be running London full of Chemo BUT CANCER FREE 🥰💪🙌🏃‍♀️