Vicky Marks Cancer Milestone With Manchester Challenge

To sign up for the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run, visit greatrun.org/manchester

A NURSE will take on the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run to mark the ten-year anniversary of her breast cancer diagnosis.

Vicky Sheard is a clinical research nurse at The Christie and is participating in the 10km event on Sunday, May 28, a decade on from contracting breast cancer.

She is part of a team at The Christie who work tirelessly to experiment and test new drugs in the early phases, with the aim of creating a future without cancer.  She has turned her negative experiences with cancer into an extreme positive; as she is now working on a team that are hoping to prevent this disease.

Vicky wanted to do something adventurous to mark her ten-year anniversary, deciding that joining Team Christie for the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run 2017 would be the perfect way to address the occasion.

“I am the least active person so thought that ‘10k for 10 years’ would be a great way to mark my diagnosis,” said the 37 year old.

“My friends were shocked when I have told them but I don’t care how long it takes me, I just want to make it around the route. 

“The funds I raise will go towards the Experimental Cancer Medicine Team, to support further research into groundbreaking new cancer treatments.”

Vicky was 28 and working in Policy and Public Affairs for the Terrence Higgins Trust in London when she found a lump in her breast.   Tests came back and she was told in June 2007 that the lump was cancerous, just two months before her wedding.  Within 10 days she began her treatment and had a lumpectomy to remove the cancerous lump from her body.

She was then treated at Kings College London Hospital, where she was advised to undergo four rounds of chemotherapy, which began after her honeymoon in September 2007, followed by intensive radiotherapy to ensure the cancerous cells were gone.

Vicky went back to work in March 2008 where she started to feel that she was in need of a career change, before enrolling on a post graduate diploma course in nursing.

Following a placement at The Christie, Vicky returned to London to complete the rest of her diploma and become a fully qualified nurse, moving to Manchester in August 2012 to join the ward 12 team at The Christie.

Training is now under way with her dog Doris as she prepares to take to the streets of Manchester for her first ever 10k.  Vicky’s husband Tim will complete the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run by her side, supporting her as he has done through her entire journey.

Amy Blackburn, sporting events officer at The Christie, said: “It is fantastic that Vicky is able to mark ten years since her cancer diagnosis by joining us to do something so positive and tackle the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run.

 “She is one of our many inspirational runners and we hope that others will be encouraged to join her and Team Christie on Sunday, May 28 and raise funds to help cancer patients and their families across the North West and beyond.”

To sign up for the Simplyhealth Great Manchester Run, visit greatrun.org/manchester