Harvey's Race for Life

Within our team we have Harvey, aged 12, Leah, aged 9 and Dad, Roy, who is supervising us on our first Pretty Little Mudder Race for Life! Our lives changed in 2021 when our Mum, Tina, found a lump in her right breast. We didn't know at first as Mum and Dad didn't tell us until they knew for sure what they were dealing with. Mum was going to doctor's appointments and she had to go alone as Harvey and Roy had COVID. Mum got some great support from family, friends and staff at the hospital, but in November 2021 it was confirmed that she had breast cancer and needed to have a mastectomy and radiotherapy. Mum and Dad sat us down and explained about Mum's cancer and said that like all other things in life, we will deal with it together as a family. Of course we were both scared and upset but Mum also gave us a Medikidz book she got from her breast cancer nurse at the hospital. This helped us understand and process some of the information that was being shared. Mum carried on working and telling her colleagues and friends about this and planning for her upcoming surgery. Mum had her mastectomy on the 29th November. We were hoping for this to be simply a surgery and radiotherapy but it was not to be. Her lymph nodes came back as having cancer in 5/5 of those removed, so we needed to brace ourselves for the next treatment of chemotherapy. Mum started just before Christmas. We had a great family Christmas as always and Father Christmas was great, as nothing was interrupted, even though Mum was a little tired. We celebrated Mum ringing the bell on the 22nd April as she completed her 20 weeks of chemotherapy treatment and we wanted to do something to remember it. What else to do but a Race for Life. Mum still has another surgery and radiotherapy to go, but we will continue to battle this together as a family. Our Grandma survived breast cancer around 18 years ago and things have changed so much in that time, it is all down to all the continued research into cancer treatments and some amazingly dedicated people. This is why we want to raise as much as we can. Mum is benefiting from the research and we want our mum and others to benefit in the future. Cancer is not personal, it just happens and it changes lives forever. We want Mum to get well and we can continue to make great future memories. Our first Race for Life Mudder being one of those!