Sara Williams is an extraordinary woman with breast cancer who has taken great inspiration from Mike Peters and is now an inspiration all of her own making. She has just run a 10k and raised £700 for LHS!
We asked Sara to re-cap the event in her own words, so here goes… “ I have always been a fitness freak, always busy, always on the go but over the last few years the impact of losing my brother in a car accident, my parents marriage break up, fertility treatment, then my sons diagnosis with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and the 3 year fight to get him support led to me battling depression. I was lucky in that I had a brilliant therapist and when I finished with him, Mikes song “Without a Fight” became my life’s signature tune.
I started running with the objective of getting fit and fulfilling my dream of running a 10k. My training was hindered slightly by a nasty dog attack but I recovered from that (just didn’t run that route ever again) and I was ready to enter for the Farndon 10K which was due to take place on 1st March 2009 when I found a lump in my breast. I was shocked because of the size of it, I couldn’t understand how I could have missed a lump that large (the size of a 10 pence piece). I kept asking “why me” I am young, fit, I watch my diet it didn’t make sense. The next two weeks were difficult but the staff at Wrexham Hospital moved swiftly once I had my ultrasound and mammogram. I was in shock at the time, worrying about who would fight for my boys if I wasn’t around but the words from my wonderful surgeon Mr Cochrane kept me focused “I have just about ruined this year for you but the next 40 are going to be wonderful….”
Within a couple of weeks I had my lumpectomy which was further complicated by a massive haematoma. However, the results were fantastic – despite the size and the grade my tumour was removed with good clearance and it hadn’t spread to my lymph nodes so further surgery was not necessary. The biopsy and the surgery left me unable to run and by the time I was ready again, it was time for chemotherapy. I went through 12 rounds of chemo and I lost all of my hair. I was ill in a way I have never been ill in my life before, sometimes I would be so tired I couldn’t speak or even think. During this time I did keep up to date with running events through magazines, I started a blog www.canceraintgonnabeatme.blogspot.com and towards the end of treatment when things were getting tough I would play Mikes music, in particular “Fight Back” and I would be up for the fight again.
I had 15 rounds of radiotherapy at Glan Clwyd followed by 18 rounds of Herceptin which finished in October 2010.
I wanted to run my 10K, I wanted to get “right back where I started from” and I wanted to stick the proverbial V’s up to cancer. My over riding thought was that if Mike Peters could live life at 100mph, climb Everest, Kili etc then I could fulfil my dream and what better way of doing it than to raise money for Love Hope Strength Foundation as my way of thanking Mike and Jules for getting me through my cancer fight and being my mentors and my constant inspiration.
I have been amazed by the love and support my quest to reach my dream has generated and have raised over £700 for the charity. The nicest thing I have been told is that I have become a mentor myself for others facing their own fight with cancer and to me, that makes my life worth living.
I don’t regret having cancer…. I wish I hadn’t had it but it has taught me a great deal about life and I have grown as a person. I have come to realise that “if you can dream it, it can happen” It has given me humility, positivity, it has taught me that with a positive attitude and taking on the challenge anything is possible.
So the race took place today 12th December 2010 – Tatton Yule Yomp. Not the best of days for a run because of the freezing fog but it was a lovely place to run, a great atmosphere and I met some lovely people along the way.
I live by the motto that in every bad thing there is a good thing – you just have to search for it. I am proud to have run my first 10K and I am proud to have done it for the Love Hope Strength Foundation.?
For more information about Sara you can follow her blog here!
