![]() I wanted to raise money for Breast Cancer Now for a few reasons. I only managed to complete a couple more parkruns before Covid hit. Unlike the rest of the world who seemed to take up running during the pandemic, I used it as an excuse to bin my new year's resolution! Friends and family joined me in the challenge ![]() After having our little boy in June 2019, I really wanted to get fit and saw running as a chance to do that while also having time for myself. I have never been a very athletic person, but I marked New Year's Day 2020 by doing my very first 5km parkrun. I signed up before realising what I had done, and the next morning was shocked to see donations had already started coming through! At that point, there was no going back. It would also be a great personal challenge, to get through the next month and a step closer to the end of treatment, even if I only managed to walk it. I thought it sounded like a great opportunity to raise awareness for Breast Cancer Now. I saw the Run 100k challenge advertised when I couldn’t sleep one night after chemo. Looking after my toddler definitely kept me going, but my self-confidence had plummeted. ![]() I wasn’t working at the time and, due of the surge in Covid cases, I was keeping my toddler away from nursery because of the risk infection might pose to me. I put on weight, became bloated because of the steroids I was prescribed, and my hair began falling out just after Christmas despite using the cold cap. I felt very ill in the days immediately following each cycle. The first four chemo cycles consisted of fortnightly EC, and these were definitely the toughest. While I accepted the surgery, I found it difficult to come to terms with having chemotherapy. I had a double mastectomy and reconstruction in October and hoped that would be the end of it. Unfortunately, the cancer had spread to some of the lymph nodes on the left-hand side. As a result, I underwent an axillary lymph node clearance followed by 16 rounds of chemotherapy and three weeks of daily radiotherapy. It was a huge shock when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in both breasts in September 2020. Testing for an altered BRCA gene came back negative, which made my bilateral breast cancer diagnosis even more unusual. Julie was diagnosed with breast cancer in the midst of the pandemic, and took on the 100k challenge while having treatment.
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