Share your story
Would you like to help others by sharing your story?
If you’re taking part in Race for Life because you, or a loved one, have been touched by cancer we’d love to hear from you. Your story could inspire people across the UK to raise money for life-saving cancer research.
We will always contact you if there is an opportunity to involve you in publicity, and we will not give your information to the media without your permission. Your story will be treated confidentially and won’t be available for other participants to read without your permission.
Read some inspirational stories
Find out what to expect by reading the stories of some of the brave and brilliant participants of the Race for Life:
Lin
Having always led a healthy lifestyle, Lin was shocked to be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 40. She was originally told it was kidney cancer but after seeing several specialists, a doctor diagnosed ACC, a very rare form of cancer which occurs in only one to two people in every million.
In February 2005 she had invasive abdominal surgery. Doctors removed a tumour the size of a rugby ball. More surgery and a gruelling six-month course of chemo followed after the ACC returned in Lin’s right lung in 2018.
She will remain on a cocktail of medicines indefinitely and continue to have three-monthly CT and PET scans and is now on our Patient Insight Panel. She has taken part in fundraising events including the Cycle 200 challenge just three months after completing her chemo.
Whilst I like to think I’m a good patient, my treatments have not been without challenges from infection, slow healing, lung collapses and a hepatoma in my tummy! In May 2022 I signed up for Race for Life with a friend, raising £1,690. I then joined the Walk 100 Miles Challenge in June, which raised another £260. Today I enjoy a wonderful life filled with love and laughter. Whilst I may tire more quickly and do not do quite as much as I used to, I have a full quality of life, which I embrace.
Dinny
Dinny, a hospital nurse, had a lump cut from her tongue in 2003. But it wasn’t until she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer nearly two years later that she realised the lump had been cancerous.
“As soon as they told me it was cancer, I asked how long I’d got left. It felt like a death sentence. I was shocked beyond belief,” she said.
Dinny underwent surgery to remove her thyroid gland and feared she would lose her voice when doctors warned her that she might have to have a tracheostomy. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case and after having a balloon inserted into her left vocal chord and undergoing speech therapy, she can even sing again.
Dinny took part in our Race for Life with her daughter Allison in 2019.
Even though I’m a nurse it never crossed my mind I had cancer. You don’t hear much about these two cancers and if I hadn’t been persistent with my doctor, I might not be here today. That’s why I want to share my story with others to help raise awareness as well as funds for further research.
