Story
Hello I’m Maria Camburn and friends are joining me to help fight cancer by doing the Race for Life. I have a very supportive family, recently married and have led a fit and healthy life enjoying running, exercise classes and walking up until 2014. It was then i was diagnosed with hip impingement syndrome leading to 3 hip operations, followed by a spinal fusion at the end of 2016. Unxpected and life changing stuff! It took the whole 2017 and 6 months of 2018 to recover from the back operation so i was determined the whole of 2018 was going to be about celebrating turning 50 on 30/12/2017 and being as fit and healthy as possible. Oh boy was it an amazing year. It started with going to the Maldives with my partner Colin and our two close friends Andy and Karen, as well as several fabulous girly get togethers and weekends away. Colin surprised me by proposing, and i went to New York with my gorgeous boys at Easter. August saw me in Fuerteventura with Colin, Lily, close friends Richard and Dawn along with Dawn’s lovely family. Then we had a new addition to our family, Otto a puppy cocker spaniel!! October we went to Cyprus and we were married on the 24th and 17 of our friends joined us helping to make it a fabulous party week never to be forgotten! We also had a wedding party back at home in November with our wider circle of friends followed by a quiet Christmas. We toasted in the new year saying “now down to earth, onto a less expensive year!” Just 9 days later I was diagnosed with breast cancer in my right breast so we came down to earth with a tremendous bump. I was absolutely knocked sideways with how life can change so dramatically and how you never know what’s around the corner. I had 2 oestrogen receptive type 2 tumours and had a mastectomy at the end of January. Further tests identified that one of the tumours was more aggressive and graded type 3, meaning I needed chemotherapy. By the time I complete this 5K walk for Race for Life, I'll be half way through my treatment. It’s been a huge journey so far, having the op, my hair cut, and donating 5 ponytails to the Little Princess Trust charity who make free wigs for children and young adults going through hair loss. I want to turn this journey into something positive and help others as much as possible who are going through the same and those who support us along with the research to beat cancer. The support I’ve received from the Breast cancer care team has been tremendous and I certainly couldn’t do this without the help and support of my family, friends and work colleagues. Thank you all I luv ya 💕 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 groundbreaking work, so please sponsor me now.