[ad_1]
A woman who organizes her first charity marathon after the diagnosis of bad cancer is committed to meeting her very personal challenge.
Claire Williamson, 44, from Lisburn in Co Down, has gone from the couch to 5 km at the half marathon – and competes at the May's Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon.
She wants to raise funds to find an easier alternative for people in treatment.
She said, "It was my decision, I have to make it right now.
"In recent years, I have not had a choice, so I did not have to think about delivery because I just did it."
Ms. Williamson is a mother of two boys and said that her family had been very supportive after receiving her diagnosis in October 2015.
She recalled, "Every time I realized that I was the last person sitting in the waiting room, I thought," Something is just not right here. "
She said that she was devastated.
She added: "At the Antrim Zone Hospital, we were taken to a side room and you know that you have problems every time they take you to a side room and there are cushions. scattered and stuffed furniture, you think it's not good.
"And then they give you a pbad to get out of the parking lot, to give you free parking, you know you're really sunk at this point."
She found the chemotherapy "brutal".
This left her on sleeping pills and created a "chemo-fog" in her cognitive abilities.
She had finished her chemotherapy and herceptin injections in 2017 when the family home was completely burned with almost all her belongings before Christmas.
She said, "I found it was more difficult to fight cancer, I think, because it affected everyone around me and affected my children more."
It was an electrical fire caused by a TV in the room.
She was alone at home and her children were lying in the room next to the fire.
She said, "They were awake by me screaming hysterically to go out."
His eldest son, Charlie, was eight years old and ended up carrying his little brother out of bed because he was asleep.
She said, "Apart from a few things, we lost 90% of everything we owned.
"It was harder to come back because of the way it affected Charlie in particular."
Charlie was afraid to fall asleep.
"You could not protect them, they had been so exposed that they had seen it," she said.
They are renting now.
She said, "We found an amazing home, it's amazing and we're really lucky – we're really lucky, unlucky."
She said that chemotherapy had a minimal impact on her children compared to the loss of all their clothes and toys under fire.
Ms. Williamson started running again by wanting to get back into shape after a year of treatment and she enjoys the social aspect of seeing friends during the exercise (Brian Lawless / PA).Mrs. Williamson, who works in planning, has started running again, eager to get in shape after a year of treatment – and enjoys the social aspect of seeing friends while doing exercise.
She added, "I was now overweight and bald, this is really not a great place.
"I thought I needed to regain control of this situation."
She is raising money for the Cancer Focus Northern Ireland charity and has said her support has been considerable.
[ad_2]
Source link
