A WOMAN who set out to raise money for cancer research, after her friend’s life was devastated by both her own cancer diagnoses and those of her family, has raised more than four times her original fundraising goal.
Jane Stubbings met Denise Lyons when they were both training to be nurses 40 years ago. Over the years, Denise has suffered a series of health problems and in 2017 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her continuing ill health led to the discovery of secondary breast cancers in her body.
Jane explained: “After chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, Denise was given the all-clear, but with breast cancer they only scan the chest area and not the whole body at the end of treatment.”
Denise had already lost her husband before her first diagnosis, but during her own period of ill health, she also lost her mother and younger brother to cancer.
“As a friend, apart from giving support, you feel so helpless and angry,” said Jane. She decided to raise funds and awareness through a sponsored public ‘spin’ at SPN fitness studio.
“I joked to Jaime Cooke, the owner of SPN, [and asked] if she would consider me spinning continuously on a bike in the window of the studio of Camden Road for Cancer Research – and from nowhere decided 36 hours was a challenging enough target!” she said.
Jane’s original fundraising goal was £1,000, but she has continued with both her fundraising and her awareness-raising events.
After her sponsored spin in December, Jane has since done a 250-mile sponsored walk to Harrogate, where Denise lives.
“It took eight days and was much harder than the spinning, but I finished!” she told the Times.
“I lost all my toe nails and I’m still suffering a little, so no, I haven’t achieved anything else yet!”
Jane’s fundraising page remains open at: fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/janes-giving-page-36-1
