The Big C

During lockdown I’ve been working with a charity as part of a trial, to encourage people going through cancer treatment to exercise safely online with 1:1 sessions. The team asked me to write about why I am so passionate about this and what lead me to where I am now.

Cancer has reared its horrible head regularly throughout my life. Thankfully I’ve never had it but a close family friend had NHL when we were teenagers, my grandma had it 5 times, my auntie died of it when I was 11. I was too young and too naive to understand the gravity of cancer and what it does to the person it takes hold of.

A few years ago, one of my closest friends (in the first photo) was diagnosed with Stage II Hodgkin Lymphoma ‘unfavourable’. The cancer had spread wide, right across her neck and was starting to impact her organs. While she looked her usual beautiful self on the outside, her body was being attacked from the inside.

Sitting with Jess while she had chemo, seeing her body, her mindset, her life change, experiencing her incredible strength and positivity - and noticing that there was absolutely no information given to her on how she could stay strong safely during her treatment, got me thinking. There must be a correlation - both mentally and physically, with exercise and cancer recovery. So I signed up to take my PT qualification further and to understand more about cancer and exercise.

A year since qualifying, I’ve been honoured and so, so lucky to have been able to work with and help the most awesome people. People who remind me every day how incredible the body is, how you can still be positive even when times are bleak, how no matter what life throws at you - you can still grow in unimaginable ways both mentally and physically.

All I want to do is help people feel strong when their body is telling them otherwise & to see them leave smiling is just amazing. In all honesty, my clients give me so much more than they know, they’ve changed my life and I just hope I can do the same for them.

If this post resonates with you, if you know someone or if you are someone who you think might benefit from working with me, get in touch, I'm here to help!