My Story

I am a 38 year old married mother of two adorable children Edo and Bea, aged 5 and 6 and two doggies Luna and Louis. On the 1st April 2022 after going into hospital with a collapsed lung and suspected pneumonia, I was diagnosed with incurable stage 4 EGFR Mutant non- small Lung Cancer which had spread to both lungs, lymph nodes, spine, ribs, pelvis and liver. I have never smoked. I am fortunate to be a patient of The Royal Marsden under the care of the wonderful Professor Sanjay Popat and am currently being treated with a targeted TKI treatment called Osimirtinib, which is a tablet I take daily. This miracle drug has stopped the spread and shrunk the cancer so that 9 months later there is no sign of disease beyond the lungs and we just hope it will keep the cancer asleep for as long as possible. When I was first diagnosed I said if I was well enough I would run The London Marathon April 2023 for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity (RMCC) and I still cannot believe that I have passed the fitness tests to be able to.

My treatment will not hold forever and sadly the timeline is unknown but the progress that The Royal Marsden are making to find new treatments to target all cancers is outstanding and I want to do what I can to help while I am well. From the money you kindly donate we will be one step further towards advanced cancers being managed as a chronic disease not a terminal one as well as an earlier diagnosis, when so many cancers can be better treated and even cured.

I must give back to The Royal Marsden and say thank you to all the hardworking, kind people that are invaluable and a complete constant, holding our hands and making us smile in the most frightening of times. I owe so much to them all.

I also want to show that as hard as it is to come to terms with the fact that I have a life-threatening currently incurable disease, I am doing my best to live a normal life for my husband and children as well as support the discovery of new treatments that might extend my time with them. It may be that in April 2023 even with cancer, by training for the Marathon, I could be in the best shape of my life. 

If I do lose the fight, it means the world to me to know that I have made a difference to what this diagnosis can mean for so many other people in the future. I would like to think that having cancer hasn't been in vain and my husband and children will always remember what I have achieved.

Please donate generously here.

Thank you so much. xxx