A Wigan mum who found out she had breast cancer the year after losing her own mum to the same disease has teamed up with her running club to Race for Life. Caeryn Collins is now in remission, and this spring she is reuniting with her running club friends to take part in Race for Life at Haigh Woodland Park.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Three weeks after my surgery was when
00:10 the rest of my running club crew were doing the Race for Life.
00:14 And it was really important for them
00:16 to do it because I was going through this journey.
00:20 And so I went to support them and then thought,
00:22 actually, anyone can sign up for Race for Life.
00:25 And you can just walk it.
00:27 You don't have to be super fit.
00:28 You don't have to be a runner to do Race for Life.
00:30 So I thought, I'll just walk it with them.
00:31 I'll just walk the little 3K circuit, and it'll be fine.
00:34 But then I got a bit giddy, as you do,
00:37 because the atmosphere is always really good.
00:39 It was so positive there.
00:41 And it was lovely to see a load of people I'd not seen.
00:45 And it was great.
00:46 So I started running, as you do.
00:47 And I thought, I'll just run a little bit, and then I'll walk.
00:50 And then I carried on, just because the wave
00:52 of positivity and just joy just takes you through.
00:59 And the music played, and people clapping and cheering.
01:02 It was just lovely.
01:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:07 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:10 I'd had regular mammograms.
01:32 I'd been having yearly mammograms,
01:34 obviously, because of the family history with my sister
01:36 and my mum.
01:38 So I'd had a mammogram in the April, and it was clear.
01:41 And I just happened to be checking again in the August,
01:43 and that's when I found a lump.
01:45 So it really is important to check on a regular basis,
01:48 and I can't stress that enough.
01:50 Karen turned up just to see us all.
01:57 We thought, obviously, she was just
01:59 coming to share more news of her new granddaughter, who
02:02 had just been born.
02:04 And obviously, she shared the news, obviously,
02:06 that she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer.
02:10 And I think we were all just completely gobsmacked
02:12 and just didn't know what to say to that.
02:14 And for this year, it was a no-brainer.
02:18 We're going to be doing it again, hopefully,
02:19 next May, all together.
02:20 We've all signed up again.
02:22 We're going to be on that start line with Karen,
02:24 and we're going to be on the finish line with her.
02:26 When people talk about the support
02:30 you get at the side for race, and it's lovely.
02:32 But race for life is a little bit special.
02:35 Celebrating people's lives is just such a lovely thing to do.
02:38 And it's not there to be sad.
02:40 It's not there to generate sad memories.
02:43 It's like when I look back at my mom, I don't think--
02:46 my first thought isn't, I'm sad because she's not here.
02:49 And don't get me wrong, I am sad because she's not here.
02:52 But I'm also really grateful for all the amazing times
02:55 that we had, all the lovely memories.
02:58 And I could imagine my mom at the side of that,
03:00 because my mom would come to stuff like that.
03:02 And if she'd have been here, she'd
03:04 have absolutely been there cheering me on.
03:06 But you've also got this amazing tribe around you
03:08 that are cheering you on regardless.
03:10 And that's just so lovely.
03:11 And I think that embodies that joyful, positive spirit
03:16 that the race for life gives you.
03:19 It's like, why wouldn't you want to do that?
03:21 So like when my running crew said to me,
03:24 we're doing the race for life for you,
03:25 I can't tell you how special that makes you feel.
03:28 It's amazing.
03:29 And that positivity is something that
03:31 takes you through the next part of your journey.
03:33 And that is just amazing.
03:35 The power in that, I can't even describe.
03:37 It's just lovely.
03:38 So I can't wait to do it.
03:40 This year, I'm not doing it for me.
03:41 I'm doing it for everybody else that's going through it.
03:44 And I hope I can share some of that positivity
03:46 by doing the race.
03:48 (gentle music)