Running on Empty

I started with Great Expectation but sadly my blog has not exactly felt the big "MO-Mentum" famous during London 2012. Against all odds my training schedule went off with a bang. I reformed my no running ways  and managed to build up to a cool 14km. Pretty impressive for a 5ft red head with chicken legs, if I do say so myself. I felt the burn of an injury and powered through. I tackled the suburban hills to reach dizzying heights. I even purchased a running bum bag.

As we entered into July my Mom went into hospital for a procedure to drain fluid from her lungs. As with all her procedures and all of her treatment she kept calm and never let us know just how scared she was. Unfortunately she never quite recovered from her operation. She made it home after a week in hospital, a little bit weaker than before. Pumped up on pain killers she tried her best to fight her pain and recover at home.

Three days later she was back in hospital, in an immense amount of pain and extremely breathless.  Over the course of the month of July she bravely fought everything Cancer threw her way. Amidst the bright lights of Baker Street her wounds healed and we thought it would be a matter of time before she was home and kicking on the cruel door of chemo.

Things went from bad to worse as her breathing wasn’t improving. She was taken off her cancer combating drugs and put on steroids. Just as things were getting a little better she caught an infection and before we knew it the cancer had spread too far. She could have tried chemo but we were told there was only 1/5 chance that would work. So on Tuesday July 24^th we brought my Mom home after a hideously long and harsh 11 month battle. She fought on through the day to wait for her nieces to arrive from Israel to say goodbye and passed away on Wednesday, 25^th July shortly before 10.30am.

My mother’s spirit and determination have continually amazed me. She was without a doubt one of the most generous, enigmatic and kind people I have been privileged enough to know. We are devastated by her loss but inspired by her memory.

I may have taken my foot off the gas over the past month but I am now raring to go once more. Last night I reignited my training schedule with a (slow) run from Canary Wharf to London Bridge and tomorrow night I will be going that much further to make it to Waterloo. In the meantime, just call me Forest because I am all about the running.

www.virginmoneygiving.com/AmyWoolf
http://cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org/type/lung-cancer/

Fact of the blog...  Around 18,400 women were diagnosed with lung cancer in the UK in 2009, making it the third most common cancer in women after breast and bowel cancer.