My Story
1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Every single pound you donate makes a difference to Cancer Research UK’s ground breaking work. Donate to my Giving Page today and help bring forward the day when all cancers are cured. I consider myself to be very lucky indeed. I tell the full story on my fitness blog at slowdistancemoving.uk but to summarise. In December 2013 I visited A&E in Shrewsbury with pain in my hip. The young doctor on duty wasn't sure of the origin so sent me for a CT scan. This showed an unrelated mass in my pancreas. The NHS were excellent and in February 2024 I had a Whipple procedure at University Hospital Stoke under the care of Mr Laing. The biopsy of the mass showed that although not cancerous yet there were pre-cancerous cells and that over time I would have developed pancreatic cancer - one of the most deadly of cancers in that it is often not discovered until too late. I have been given a reprieve and the chance for an ongoing better quality of life with the use of Creon to aid my digestion. For the past fifteen years I have been very physically active to overcome mental health difficulties sustained following a breakdown in 2008. I benefit from having a physical challenge in mind and so I have entered this event to try and raise funds and awareness and as a joint challenge with Susan who is experiencing her own journey with melanoma. Our training was going well with over thirty walks and nearly 200 miles when Susan suffered a knee injury that prevented her from continuing with the programme. I was slightly distracted too by preparation for the Tour de 4 ride in Scotland and then a mini triathlon in Nantwich. But we turned up on Saturday, Susan did the 10K walk (very quickly) and I set off at 2100 for the half-marathon completing it just under four hours later.
