“Not many people are aware of follicular lymphoma, I wasn’t until my much better half Charlotte was diagnosed with the condition last year.
Follicular lymphoma isn’t like most other cancers, for most people, it isn’t an aggressive disease. Instead, people with it will go through periods of active disease, followed by remissions. Living with follicular lymphoma causes a range of physical and emotional challenges, as well as living with the uncertainty of not knowing when and how the cancer will return.
The emotional torment of being told you have incurable cancer and that there is no saying when and how the condition will become active is horrendous and something I would wish on no one, but I am so proud of Charlotte and how she has dealt with the emotional hammer blow of being told you have incurable cancer.
Follicular lymphoma is a relatively little-known cancer and as a result comparatively to other conditions receives very little funding and little attention. Now, a lack of funding and lack of attention really won’t help the FL Foundation in its mission to find a cure and I am very much hoping to raise as much money as possible to help the Foundation achieve their mission as quickly as they possibly can.
I am not going to lie; I had a purely selfish ask for this fundraiser. That was for our friends, family and colleagues to donate to the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation so they can continue at pace their great work in trying to find a cure for this cancer that will directly benefit Charlotte. In directly benefitting Charlotte, those who donated were also directly benefitting me and our family plus hundreds of thousands of other people and their families globally.
The fundraiser not only gave us a platform to help raise funds and awareness for the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation, but on a personal level, it was a catalyst for Charlotte to share her diagnosis with her wider friendship groups and colleagues which was a big hurdle for her. Charlotte is a very strong, confident independent woman, but her diagnosis really knocked these brilliant attributes of her personality. She didn’t want to be seen as weak and didn’t want the sympathy that often comes when people hear of a cancer diagnosis. I am so pleased to say she received such an outpouring of support it was really quite overwhelming. I was just amazingly happy through running a few miles to help her speak a bit more openly about her diagnosis and take a step closer in emotionally coming to terms with her condition.
