A Fife mum fighting cancer for a second time is urging Scots to sign up to Race for Life and raise funds to help defeat the disease.
Burntisland’s Lindsay Blake, 45, knows exactly how vital Cancer Research UK’s work is.
She is being treated with palbociclib, a new drug which targets and blocks proteins which help cancer cells to grow.
Cancer Research UK-funded scientists played a leading role in its development.
The drug, given to patients with advanced breast cancer, is thought to slow the growth of the disease and delay the need for other treatments.
Lindsay has teamed up with her daughter to launch Race for Life 2018 in Scotland and is encouraging supporters to take part in its series of 5K, 10K and Pretty Muddy 5K events across the country in aid of Cancer Research UK.
She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012 after returning from a holiday with her husband Steven, 43.
She had already lost her mum, Angela Gilfillan, to lung cancer so was in no doubt about the battle ahead.
She had a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was on the road to recovery when she signed up for her first Race for Life 5K in Kirkcaldy.
The news that her cancer had returned was a bitter blow.
Lindsay said: “I was really looking forward to reaching the milestone of being clear of cancer for five years.
“I was only two months short of that five-year mark when cancer came back again.”
This time, tests showed there was cancer on her breastbone and liver.
She hadn’t felt ill at all and understandably it came as a shock.
“My husband asked, is it treatable? Is it curable?,” she recalled.
“The doctor said it’s treatable but not curable.
“That set me back a further step as the first time I’d had cancer there had only ever been talk of it being curable.”
Lindsay had two weeks of radiotherapy and started a monthly injection to help strengthen her bones, as well as taking the new drug.
Tests just before Christmas showed the two tumours on her liver were shrinking and she is facing 2018 with vigour.
Children, Steven, 22, and Stephanie, 27, are hugely proud of her.
Stephanie said: “Mum is my superwoman.”
The Race for Life, in partnership with Tesco, raises millions of pounds every year.
Last year’s event in Kirkcaldy saw hundreds of women and girls – and for the first time men and boys – race round the Beveridge Park.
Lisa Adams, Cancer Research UK spokeswoman in Scotland, said: “By joining like-minded ladies committed to the cause, women can unite against a disease that affects us all in some way.”
To get involved this year, visit raceforlife.org or call 0300 123 0770.
