My Story
Mandy’s Story: In June 2019, I was diagnosed with breast cancer after finding a lump in my breast. I had two operations to remove the tumor and was treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy afterwards. Throughout this period I was terrified and with three children ranging from two to fourteen, it was a worrying time for my family too. My husband was an absolute rock and supported us all as did our amazing friends and families too. During my treatment, I closely followed the amazing work that Cancer Reaseaech UK are doing and saw their progress with treatments is improving all the time. We want to raise as much money for this charity to ensure that there are more families out there who get a second chance like we have. Beccy’s Story: My family carry a faulty BRCA gene. When these genes work normally they help fight breast, ovarian and other cancer cells growing in an uncontrolled way. As mine is faulty I am at a huge risk to develop these cancers. We have lost family members because of this gene and one of my cousins, who I am extremely close to, has recently sadly been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. She is my inspiration, she faces regular treatment, some of extremely gruelling but I am thankful for her every day. Over the past year, I have been on my own journey due to my faulty BRCA gene, but thanks to an awesome medical team I know I am one of the lucky ones. My biggest fear is that my own children will carry this gene and face this risk. I can’t hope enough that diagnosis, treatment and cures for cancer are even better for their generation. Claire’s Story: I lost my friend Vicki to ovarian cancer in 2019. Diagnosed in her 30s and, like me, a mother to young girls, her death affected me deeply. The last time I saw Vicki before she passed away she urged me to chase my GP about the digestive pain I had been struggling to manage for several years; and at age 38, my own diagnosis of Stage 3 Bowel Cancer followed. I underwent surgery and chemotherapy in 2021 and am now well, and committed to raising funds for the incredible scientists who are our best hope of stopping this disease in its tracks. My dream is that one day other families can be spared the terror of diagnosis and the devastation of losing a loved one to cancer. Allison's story by Sean: Allison was formally diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer on 23 December 2020. During the preceding month or two, only some vague symptoms and blood tests indicated there may be some issues. Sadly, Allison died only 4 short weeks to the day after the diagnosis. Allison was 54 and had 3 children. As a family, we are determined that Allison’s legacy will be our inspiration to raise awareness and knowledge of the many forms of cancer; provide support for those affected; and increase funding into research and innovation. All of these will help in our aim to increase survival rates for all cancers, especially the terribly low rates for pancreatic cancer and other currently less-survivable forms of the disease.
