Emily up and running after brave fight with cancer

WAITING in hospital after finding a lump in her breast, Emily Stanton was so convinced there was nothing to worry about she had gone alone.

She was young, there was no family history and didn’t smoke or drink heavily – a cancer diagnosis was not on her radar.

So when the mum of two was introduced to the breast care nurse at Belfast City Hospital, her world was turned upside down.

She was diagnosed with an aggressive form of the disease, a Her2-positive cancer, in the summer of 2015.

But determined to show she could beat it, and in a bid to give back to Cancer Focus NI who were supporting her family, Emily started training for the Belfast City Marathon while undergoing radiotherapy.

Emily, 48, said: “All along the way they are cheerleading you on saying ‘You can do this’, ‘We are here to support you’, and ‘Your family can do this’.

“Our whole family really appreciated all that so I was delighted to get a chance to run the marathon, prove I could do that, prove I was in good health and could run 26.2miles, very slow, however still finish in time.”

Emily, who lives with her husband Hedley and their sons in East Belfast, started running to her radiotherapy treatments at the Cancer Centre and decided a great way to give back would be to run the full marathon in May 2016 after going through treatment. She managed to raise £3,000 for the charity.

Emily underwent a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy before taking on the big race.

As well as raising money for the charity, the training and advocacy co-ordinator, said seeing her running also helped her sons – Liam,13, and nine-year-old Rhys.

Emily added the support of Cancer Focus NI had been vital for her loved ones while undergoing treatment, with the family support service in particular helping them all through it.

As Cancer Focus NI launch a major fundraising campaign to raise £100,000 for pioneering breast cancer research to mark its 50th birthday, Emily said she wanted to share her experience to urge people to support the charity.

She added: “I am a huge proponent of research and the discoveries that research can allow, not only for current generations but future generations.

“Each research discovery builds upon the last and the future ones continue that opportunity to learn from what has been discovered, so I think it is really important.

EAST BELFAST YESTERDAY