Hi Everyone, As many of you will know, my wife Maggie has been having treatment for Leiomyosarcoma for over 5 years now. As lucky as we were to have caught the cancer early, the aggressive nature of the cancer has meant that from the original diagnosis of stage 2 and 1 primary tumour, we now have a stage 4 diagnosis, 1 primary tumour and 10 secondary with many more removed. Side effects from treatment have been life changing, she no longer has the use of her lower left leg, very little hearing in her left ear and currently very poor sight out of her left eye, no sense of smell or taste, a third of her liver removed, 75% of her stomach and glands removed, although this was healing we recently found out a tumour has regrown, so the future of her stomach is unknown, along side many more effects. The strength and resilience that Maggie has shown to date has been incredible. She takes each day as it comes and each bit of news (good or bad) is taken in her stride. Even 5 years of treatment hasn’t knocked the positive nature and spirit of her. Unexpectedly becoming a carer can put you into an odd headspace. Every ounce of your time, love and energy flows into a single person all whilst coming to terms with the changes it makes to your own life. The one step forward and two steps back is never more prevalent than when dealing with someone who has a long term illness. It sounds dramatic but it feels like you live life in a constant state of crisis mode, whether that is isolating from the people you love for fear of infection, trying to predict and prevent side effects to never quite trusting the positive news. Which eventually started to affect my own mental health, some thing we don’t often talk about when it comes to caring for another. Fortunately for me the people around me recognised I needed help and after a few months we were back on track. And so I’m finally putting myself out there for Maggie and The Royal Marsden and running the London Marathon. All of this would not have been possible if it hadn’t been for the truly remarkable work of her consultancy team at The Royal Marsden. They have worked tirelessly in getting Maggie the most up to date treatments available, whether this is through the NHS or through trials. We’ve had several occasions where we were put on hold with treatment and there was nothing new on the horizon but somehow the team always managed to pull through and get Maggie something to keep her going. With all of this in mind, I want to show Maggie and her team how proud of them I am every single day through finally raising some money. This money will be hugely appreciated by everyone involved and will help keep many cancer patients like my wife getting the best possible care. The goal I’m setting for this is £5,000. So anything you can spare to support me on this will be hugely appreciated. Also, here is the link to The Royal Marsden page. Here you’ll see the fantastic work they do for every patient under their care. https://www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk/
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