Miracle at the start line given weeks to live
Not long ago, 21-year-old Ben Atkins was picking his gravestone. But today, he will take on the 26.2 miles, free from the cancer he thought was terminal.
Aged 17, doctors gave him weeks to liv following a two-year battle with Stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma.
Ben began palliative care and even went on a final family holiday.
But a miracle happened six months later when he began to feel “strangely OK”. And a scan revealed he was indeed in remission
Ben, from Berkhamsted, Herts, took up long-distance running a year ago to stay fit after his all-clear.
But he said: “It will be a huge challenge as years of chemo gave my body a battering
And he is raising money for the charity that supported him through his illness – the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Recalling the moment he learned his cancer was terminal, he said: “To be told I was going to die wasn’t a shock after years o treatment but it made me determined to spend every moment with friends and family
“It was a very emotional time – I even chose where I’d be buried. Like everyone I remained hopeful I would somehow defy the odds. To be that person feels incredible.”
Consultants were baffled by the turnaround but think perhaps a stem cel transplant Ben had two years prior started working later than it should have.
“To this day, nobody is exactly sure how I am still alive. But I don’t dwell on it.”
Ben’s cancer symptoms began to show aged 14. Exhausted, he lost weight and had to quit running, rugby, football and swimming Scans revealed two tumours in his chest. Treated at the Teenage Cancer Trust unit at University College Hospital London, he had
It hit hard and I even chose where I would be buried
BEN ATKINS FINDING OUT CANCER WAS INCURABLE
“dozens” of rounds chemotherapy and radiotherapy. He was given the all-clear in 2013 and 2014 but relapsed.
“Every physical act was a battle,” he recalled. “The most menial tasks, from getting out of bed, to keeping relationships with friends and loved ones, became almost insurmountable tasks.”
In 2014, Ben had a stem cell transplant, donated by his “needle-phobic” brother Joseph, now 23.
But a scan in December 2015 revealed the tumour had grown to “the size of a tennis ball” and Ben and mum Anya, 51, were told it was incurable.
“It hit hard,” Ben said. A “last” holiday to the Maldives with Anya, Joseph and his sister Grace, 19, allowed them to spend quality time together. But as weeks turned into months, Ben realised he felt “the same”. “And after five months, I actually felt all right.”
Everyone was “over the moon” when a scan in 2016 revealed he was in remission. “At first I didn’t want to trust the results but then I started to enjoy myself again.”
Ben went on to pass his A-levels and win a place at Oxford University to study law.
Ben’s first few runs left him exhausted due to muscle fatigue after years of treatment and bed rest. He also has graft versus host disease – a complication from his transplant that means his muscles and skin are tight and cause discomfort.
But he says: “The thought of the people who will benefit from the cash I raise will keep me going.”