Josephine's Race for Life

My Story

Hi, and thank you for visiting my giving page. Most of you will know that a couple of years ago I was diagnosed with tonsil cancer, having completed my treatment back in April 2017. The good news is that I am fit and well and, over 2 years cancer free, but cancer is still out there affecting more people than ever. In fact during the 2 years I have been cancer free it is estimated that there will have been a further 800,000 new cancer diagnoses and by the end of 2020 nearly 3 million people in the UK will be living with cancer. That figure is set to rise to 4 million by the end of 2030. We are all aware of the new statistic that 1 in 2 of us will get cancer in our lifetime. However it is not all doom and gloom. Whilst there are many facts to consider, the number of people surviving cancer in the UK for 10 years of more has doubled in the last 40 years. This is clearly to do with better and earlier detection methods. This is one aspect Cancer Research are looking into, including developing a simple blood test which could detect certain cancers before any other symptoms are noticed, trying to make treatments kinder to the body, and reducing the number of long term side effects. In fact I still have a number of side effects from my radiotherapy treatment, including a dry mouth, as the treatment damaged the salivary gland on the left side, pins and needles at the top of my left arm due to the nerve bundles being affected in my neck, and the worst one for me is a constant burning sensation on the left side of my tongue. I describe it as if someone has used a cheese grater on it,. These small problems will not change for me now as my consultant has told me that what you are left with 2 years after treatment will become your "New normal" The worst thing is I still cannot drink read wine!!!! You will know that I did the pretty muddy Race for Life last year with a number of my friends (please see photo above!) and I was amazed at everyone's generosity. Well, a year has passed, and I'm back to ask for your help again. Cancer will not stop unless we stop it, and that takes money for research and development. Please, if you can, support me and this amazing charity again that would be fantastic. So far I am one of the lucky ones, I do not know what the future will bring me, but my hope for the future is one day we will no longer fear the word "Cancer" we are a long way away from that at the moment but with your help we can make it happen. Thank you for reading my story. Lots of love to you all, Jo