A Richmond firefighter has completed a marathon and raised more than £8,000 a year after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Tanya Liversedge-Gell and wife Charlie were due to take on the famous Death Valley Marathon.
Unfortunately, it was cancelled at the last minute due to bad weather, meaning, with flights already booked to fly to the US, they were forced to find another marathon to run at short notice.
They quickly found at event in Long Beach, California, which completed at the weekend, raising more than £8,000 for the Firefighters’ Charity and South Tees Hospital Charity in the process.
The marathon was completed a year after Tanya first had surgery after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
She had a double mastectomy and had her lymph nodes removed.
The mother-of-two, who has two five-year-old twins John and Harry, then underwent course of chemotherapy to rid her body of any remaining cancerous cells.
She started training as soon as she was well enough after treatment, which included two major operations, 18 weeks of chemotherapy and three weeks of radiotherapy.
She said: “The marathon was my goal, it was a year from my first operation to take the cancer away.
“Mentally I needed something to focus on, something to aim for and something to make my boys proud.
“It was horrendous and if I ever suggest doing a marathon again please someone stop me.”
A massive thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the love, support & generous donations
– Last December I had cancer
– This December I smashed a marathon in LA
Boom ?£8100 raised for @firefighters999 Charity& @SouthTees Hospital@NorthYorksFire
Tanya(FF Richmond NY) pic.twitter.com/ChkMdSag4c— Richmond Fire Station (@NYFRS_Richmond) December 9, 2019
Tanya has thanked her family, friends and members of the 999 family around the world for their support.
“I honestly can’t thank everyone of you for your support, love and generous donations.
“It is a year since all this cancer crap began — and this is my way of marking the end of it.”
You can still sponsor Tanya here.
