Cancer survivor’s run raises over £1,200 for two wards at the West Suffolk Hospital
Cancer survivor Jenny Mingay has raised over £1,200 for a hospital charity as a way of paying them back for the care she received while she was being treated.
The 45-year-old, who lives in Soham, ran the Cambridge Half Marathon and completed the course in two hours and 41 seconds and said she was “absolutely chuffed” with her time and taking part in the event.
She kept it a closely guarded secret that she was taking part and it wasn’t until she completed it that she decided to raise the money in case she was not able to carry it out.
Jenny was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2019 and her treatment begun at the West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, in January last year. It continued throughout the Covid-19 lockdown with her courses of chemotherapy and her surgery in June and finished in April this year.
She said: “I kept reading everywhere that they (health experts) promote exercise for cancer treatment and that any form of exercise will help you to feel better.
“I was waiting in the clinic one day in the hospital and noticed a My WiSH poster and I thought maybe I could support that charity.”
Jenny, who is a transplant co-ordinator for the National Blood Service, was a runner years ago but decided to start again. She tried to run regularly as she always remembered being told you never regretted a run but you would regret not doing it.
She said it really helped her mentally and physically in her recovery from the treatment and she raised a total of £1,290 for the charity which supports the work of the hospital.
The money will be split between the breast unit and the Macmillan Unit and Jenny was amazed so many donated to her cause.
She said: “Running has always been good for my head and taking part in the Cambridge Half Marathon gave me a focus and an incentive to get out on bad days.
“I decided that I’d like to give back to the two departments that gave me a life again.
“I will never be able to thank them enough for what they did for me. I was just so grateful to them and they gave me so much time caring for me.
“God knows how I got round the course but I was so elated that I had done it and the donations then came flooding and I was overwhelmed with the generosity of people which was absolutely amazing.”
Sally Daniels, fundraising manager, said “Jenny is so inspirational. Going through cancer treatment is so hard so to get out and exercise takes a tremendous amount of determination. The fact that it helped her get through the treatment is just fantastic and then to use this to give back to the amazing staff who cared for her is lovely. We are so grateful for Jenny’s support”.
Written by Russell Cook for My WiSH Charity
Main photo: Jenny Mingay with cancer nurse specialist Tracy Fells holding the cheque for £1,290.