South Wales Echo

Man runs 100km to support fiancée who has cancer

- MARK SMITH Health Correspond­ent mark.smith@walesonlin­e.co.uk

CHRIS Wright said he was “over the moon” when his “perfect” partner Michelle agreed to become his wife.

“The moment she said yes it felt like I’d won the lottery,” he beamed.

“She’s the kindest person I’ve ever met - really thoughtful, clever, and absolutely beautiful. I just felt so, so lucky.”

But for the majority of the time they’ve been together the pair have had to face more obstacles than most couples.

Four years ago, not long after they started dating, Michelle noticed a lump in her breast and went to get it checked out by her GP. After tests, it was discovered she had triple negative breast cancer - an aggressive and hard to treat form of the disease.

“It was obviously a bit of a shock as it would be to anyone,” Chris, 42, from Llandaff, Cardiff, added.

“She went through the initial treatment period with Velindre in Cardiff which was around three or four months long. She was then given the all clear and they were happy that the treatment had done its job.”

But last November, Michelle noticed some swelling and went to her doctor once again. This time she was given the devastatin­g news that the cancer had returned and spread.

Chris said his fiancee has since gone through several rounds of chemothera­py and radiothera­py treatments, which are still ongoing.

At the moment it is not clear what the prognosis is for Michelle.

“She’s had to come through a few really difficult things. She had fluid on both her lungs which was essentiall­y crushing them and making it very hard for her to breathe. That was terrible. She’s now had a procedure to clear them which everyone seems to be happy with and one of the lungs seems to be fine now.”

Chris said it has been traumatisi­ng seeing the love of his life battle such terrible illness.

“She is incredible,” he added. “She was working in a profession that was helping others so she’s a very caring, very thoughtful person and someone that’s definitely got their head on their shoulders.

“She’s very realistic about things but also very, very strong in terms of dealing with things. I’m hugely proud of how she’s handled the situation.”

Chris and Michelle met in August 2018 when they were housemates and became an item the following October.

A year later, Chris proposed. Throughout her time receiving treatment, Chris said staff at Velindre Cancer Centre have been “truly exceptiona­l” in caring for Michelle.

“Obviously it’s hard being a partner of someone that’s going through this. Emotionall­y it’s tricky and you sometimes feel like there’s not anything you can do.”

As his way of paying tribute to his fiancee and Velindre, Chris has taken on the most physically difficult challenge of his life.

On Saturday, he took on 20 backto-back Parkruns in Cardiff - a distance of 100km or 62.14 miles .

After setting up a JustGiving page, he has managed to raise more than £12,500.

“The response I’ve had has been kind of overwhelmi­ng. I initially set a target of £5,000 and to be honest, I thought that was going to be a bit of a stretch,” Chris said.

“All of the donations raised in aid of Velindre Cancer Charity are invested back into Velindre Cancer Centre and its community services.

“In addition to their support of cancer patients and their families Velindre also contribute­s to groundbrea­king cancer research on a national and global scale, clinical trials, cuttingedg­e treatments, specialist nurses, support services, therapies, equipment, and so much more - so donations really do have a significan­t impact on patients and their families.”

 ?? CHRIS WRIGHT ?? Chris Wright, 42, from Llandaff, Cardiff, ran 100km in one go to raise money for Velindre
CHRIS WRIGHT Chris Wright, 42, from Llandaff, Cardiff, ran 100km in one go to raise money for Velindre

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