My Story

 Hi, I'm Mel, and in April 2026 I’ll be running the London Marathon.

I’m doing it for Young Lives vs Cancer, and more personally, I’m doing it for my cousin and best friend, Nothando, someone I love and care about deeply, and who is currently facing the unimaginable.

In November 2024, Nothando suddenly started experiencing severe back pain. What we thought might be something simple turned out to be life-changing. After months of hospital stays, scans, biopsies, and surgery, she was diagnosed in April 2025 with Metastatic Angiosarcoma a rare, aggressive, and incurable cancer that had already spread to her spine, pelvis and adrenal gland at only 21.

Since then, her life has been turned upside down; physically, emotionally, mentally. From being a young woman running her own hair business, going out with friends, travelling and living fully… to chemotherapy, uncertainty, and pain. She’s currently on palliative treatment to manage the symptoms and slow the cancer down but there’s no cure. Not yet.

And yet, through it all, she’s remained one of the strongest, most hopeful people I know. She’s still dreaming. She’s still fighting. She’s still believing in better days.

That’s why I’m running this marathon.

I wanted to do something hard, something that in no way compares to what she’s going through, but still pushes me to my own limit. Because if she can keep showing up and facing each day with courage, the least I can do is show up for 26.2 miles and raise as much as I can in support of her and other young people facing simlar situations.

I’m raising money for Young Lives vs Cancer, a charity that supports young people like Nothando through the toughest times imaginable. From emotional support to helping families with practical day-to-day struggles, they make a huge difference and they need our help to keep doing it.