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Gallery: Hundreds go pink for Swindon's Race for Life

Pic: Cancer Research
Pic: Cancer Research

Hundreds of people turned up to Lydiard Park to enter the Race for Life and the Pretty Muddy series of events.

It is the first since the pandemic and more than £170,000 was raised which will help Cancer Research scientists find new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.

Susan Burke from Swindon was one of the 1,300 participants racing in this year’s events.

Speaking exclusively to the Adver, Mrs Burke explained why she was competing in the 2022 Race for Life.

She said: “I was diagnosed with stage 3 triple-negative breast cancer in 2020 and thankfully because of the amazing treatment at Great Western Hospital in lockdown I’m free of cancer.

“My niece was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer so we are running for me and for her to try and raise as much money as we can to give back.

“I got amazing treatment and without research and I wouldn’t have got the treatment that I needed.

“This time last year I couldn’t walk round the block, so I’ve been trying to get my steps up and go as far as I can.

Once someone has been diagnosed with cancer a patient then undergoes chemotherapy or radiotherapy and Susan explained just how difficult her treatment was.

Mrs Burke said: “It was horrendous because it was during lockdown, the day I was told I had cancer I was on me own. My husband wasn’t allowed in the hospital because of covid but it was all worth it in the end.

“It’s not nice going through chemotherapy it’s gruelling treatment.

“You’re sick, you have lots of side effects, you’re tired all the time. I had to have a blood transfusion halfway because my blood platelets were so low, my hair fell out.

“It’s upsetting, it’s gruelling, but you have to have that end goal of getting the all-clear which it did for me thankfully.”

Race for Life event organiser April Davies added: “Race for life always brings such a fantastic atmosphere, Swindon has held a race for many years now and it’s a delight to see it come back to life this year.

“We’ve got a fantastic group of volunteers that follow us around to lots of our race for life events working long hours.

“We literally could not do this without them, I’d like to say a massive thank you to all our volunteers and every participant.

“Without the volunteers and without your fantastic fundraising we could not do this without you.”

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