Daughter's second cancer fight spurs on Race for Life mother

WHEN Caroline Gallagher first took part in Race for Life to raise money for cancer research, her teenage daughter Suzanne was being treated for a rare form of the illness.

Next month she will join thousands of other women at her 13th event for Cancer Research UK just as Suzanne faces treatment for a second time for a different but again rare form of the disease.

Suzanne, of Scarcroft, near Leeds, was only 17 when doctors told her she had a fast-growing germ cell tumour on one of her ovaries. She underwent surgery and chemotherapy which successfully treated the condition and not long afterwards gave birth to daughter Lauren.

She has since taken part in the five-kilometre run with Lauren, now 12, but shortly before Christmas tests at St James's Hospital in Leeds revealed that the back pain and tiredness she had been battling were being caused by a neuroendocrine tumour growing in her back.

Her mother, 61, also of Scarcroft, said: "We know research and treatment has come a long way since that first Race for Life I did all those years ago. The new cancer unit at St James's has benefited greatly from this and hopefully so will my daughter.

"I first found out about it when we were sitting in the clinic at St James's looking for something to read or do and I saw this poster on the wall and thought I'd do some fund-raising.

"I'd never run before although I played a bit of sport – this will be the 13th time I've done it."

Suzanne, who is studying to become a chartered surveyor, said she would not be taking part this time but well knew the value of the fund-raising effort.

As a teenager she had been treated on an ordinary ward alongside often very ill adults. Now she will be treated in the recently-opened state-of-the-art Bexley Wing at the hospital where doctors are drawing up a treatment plan for the illness. They do not know if it is linked to the earlier tumour.

"The difference is not only in the hospital and the technology but also in how different it makes you feel when you're going there. It's a fabulous building," she said.

Caroline Gallagher will take part in Race for Life at the Great Yorkshire Showground near Harrogate on June 23. For further information ring 0871 641 1111.