Roxanna's Race for Life

Many of us in our lifetime will be affected by Cancer. My family experience started before i was born with my grandmother who died from ovarian cancer, and from whom I got my name. Then i lost my mum (who would have been 79 this year on 20th June) to Breast Cancer when I was only 11 years old. Both will never be forgotten. Treatment was different back then and kicking cancer into touch was more challenging, but thanks to all the hard work by the medics and researchers and all the really kind and generous donations by people like you, diagnosis and treatment have greatly improved and more and more people are living to tell of their experiences and contribute to ongoing research. I am one of those people. In January 2019 I was diagnosed with invasive lobular breast cancer and then a month later I was told I have BRCA1 gene mutation. My diagnosis in 2019 was a shock, but my treatment has gone well. The aggressive grade 3 tumour was removed and over 2 years on I remain cancer free. Because of research, I did not have Chemotherapy, instead Radiotherapy, ongoing medication and the risk reducing surgery i have had during the Covid-19 pandemic has given me the best chance of the cancer not returning. This would not have been possible without the generous contributions to fund new and innovative ways to treat us. A large number of the population will be touched in some way by Cancer, but we can be thankful for progress in treatment and ongoing research. For example, new research into BRCA1 detection of changes in breast cells before they become cancerous: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-us/cancer-news/news-report/2021-03-08-changes-detected-in-brca1-breast-cells-before-they-turn-cancerous If you can make any donation, thank you, if you can't then please just know your body, family history and speak to the experts if any changes occur, I did and I'm eternally grateful to all those who have been a part of my treatment.