The Ordinary meets the Extraordinary – The London Marathon
Yesterday, Sunday 21st was the 44th London Marathon and I had two of my contacts on LinkedIn taking part.
Both Dr Hugo De La Peña, MD, PHD, FRC and Anton Lane ran the marathon for good causes which mean something very personal to them, and to me too.
My colleague Dr Hugo ran his second marathon for Cancer Research UK, because his life’s work has been around cancer, particularly breast cancer. As those of you who read my blogs and other social media posts know, I lost one of my best friends to breast cancer and have raised cash in her memory ever since.
Dr Hugo’s reason for running: ‘there is nothing I wouldn’t do to kill this hideous disease. We exist to beat Cancer.
Cancer is a brutal, cruel disease that doesn’t discriminate, so we either bury our heads in the sand and hope it never happens to us or we tackle it. I’ll run the London Marathon thinking of all of my patients and everyone affected by cancer and their loved ones.
1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, which is why I’m raising money for Cancer Research UK’s life-saving work. Together we are beating cancer. Cancer is brutal yes, but so are we. We cure cancer routinely yes, but TIME is a luxury some of my patients don’t have, developing new treatments is therefore a race.’
My client, Sean Harper of Just For Fun Holiday club, ran for the Swindon Based non-profit organisation The Platform Project. They help disadvantaged young people to develop skills and gain the confidence needed to launch their career and have a thriving and fulfilled future.
Anton Lane is founder of Edge Tax based in Bristol, and a client of mine. Anton ran for the Brain Tumour Foundation in memory of his friend Paul.
Anton’s reason for running: ‘One of my very best friends, Paul Emsley, gave the majority of his life to helping others with their health. He gave up a career in banking to become a fitness instructor. He raised his fitness to donate bone marrow for leukaemia patients through Anthony Nolan (who I supported then for my first London Marathon). He set up the award winning ‘Energise – cancer rehabilitation exercise’ program in Bristol.
Paul left us on 12 March 2018 after suffering a brain tumour.’
The truth is I know what it’s like to face the journey that lies ahead when you have a brain tumour. When I was 36 years old, with two small girls, the youngest just six months old, my husband Steve was diagnosed with an haemangioblastoma. It’s quite a rare brain tumour- benign but it’s still very dangerous because it keeps growing.
This particular story has its roots in Steve’s past but none of us know exactly when. We met in 1996 and from the beginning he would sometimes get severe discomfort in his neck. He went to the GP several times for this when he was given painkillers and even had an X Ray. It was all clear.
Finally, in 2002, his GP suggested he should go to a chiropractor which he did. After that first visit he had a headache. After the second that headache was much, much worse. These headaches continued for a few weeks and back he went again to the GP. I got bored of it, if I’m brutally honest. I was working with two small children, coming home and Steve couldn’t do anything. He would be lying on the sofa with another headache and I found I was then looking after him as well.
One day I got home and he was in bed with the curtains drawn and when I pulled them back he screamed. I have no words to tell you what that felt like. Instantly I knew this was really bad. I rushed out to some neighbours – that I didn’t know well and begged them to look after the children. I then took Steve, to the emergency doctor. I have no idea to this day why I didn’t just call an ambulance.
The doctor couldn’t find anything and gave me the choice of going home to ‘see how things went’ or to go A&E. I gave Steve no choice. We went to the hospital. We were admitted to a ward really quickly and a feeling of doom came over me.
Very quickly I had to get his parents to travel up our home to look after the children and I waited with him for 24 hours for a CT scan. It was the next day after lunch when I said I’d go home for a shower and would be back in a couple of hours – his dad would take my place.
I got home, saw the girls and 20 minutes later, my father in law came home. I nearly collapsed. I just knew from his face that things were bad. Little did I know what lay ahead.
I’ll share more of that journey on another day. Believe me, it’s a book I haven’t yet written.
*Photo shows Dr Hugo De La Peña, MD, PHD, FRC running the London Marathon in 2023.
