A teacher from Clapham is gearing up for London Marathon on 3 October following her mother’s shock cancer diagnosis.
Yasmin Chambers, 28, who teaches at Glenbrook Primary School in Clapham decided to sign up as a thank you to Macmillan Cancer Support for the help they have provided her and her family since her mum was diagnosed with bowel cancer in November 2020.
Jennifer Chambers, a 47-year-old mum-of-three from Derbyshire, was told that she had stage 4 bowel cancer having initially visited the doctors because she was experiencing anxiety due to the lockdown.
Shortly afterwards she began fundraising for Macmillan by running, walking and cycling 5k a week, when her treatment would allow, and has raised almost £9,000 since.
Yasmin said: “Our mum is our inspiration. After her diagnosis, our world changed very fast.
“Macmillan has supported my mum throughout her chemo. I have a 9-year-old sister and they have even supported us on how to help her.
“It’s my aim to run a marathon and contribute at least £4,000 to my mum’s amazing total for Macmillan, who have lifted my mum’s spirits and given us all hope when at times it felt like we were just receiving bad news after bad news.”
Despite making several visits to the doctors over the years for help with fatigue, Mrs Chambers’ cancer went undetected for five years.
In February 2020 she was told by a doctor that her fatigue was most likely just a symptom of menopause.
By the time the cancer was discovered in November it had already spread to her liver.
This inspired her to start an Instagram blog called @fittobeatcancer where she raises awareness of bowel cancer with the help of her 9-year-old daughter Summer.
She encourages anyone experiencing stomach ache for more than two weeks to go and get checked.
Having finished her first round of chemotherapy, Mrs Chambers is planning on running a 5k race herself soon.
Yasmin said her mum was incredibly proud when she told her that she’d signed up for the London Marathon.
She added: “She knows I love running and I’m always up for a challenge and she was really excited to also fundraise for Macmillan through this.
“My kids at school were also really excited! They have been great motivation and often challenge me to race them during break times and PE lessons.”
You can donate to Yasmin’s fundraiser here.
You can donate to Jennifer’s fundraiser here.
You can donate to #Team Macmillan here.
Featured image credit: Miguel A. Amutio on Unsplash
