Four friends put their best foot forward to complete a marathon and raise money for a cancer charity.
The four, who are all members of the Three Counties Running Club were raising money for Make Seconds Count a breast cancer charity, and raising awareness of the unfairness of treatment for the disease between Scotland and England.
Tracy Pratt, a nurse from Tydd St Mary, who has worked for the NHS for over three decades was diagnosed with incurable secondary breast cancer four years after undergoing initial treatment for the disease in 2018.
A niggly back pain proved to be caused by tumours, one of which had eaten away at a vertebrae.
Tracy is a keen sportswoman and a member of the running club, however, her illness has forced her to give up running.
However, that did not stop her from supporting her friends Debbie Agger, Tracy Adams, and Tracey Else when they decided to run 26 miles around the Wisbech area earlier this month.
While the three donned inflatable boob costumes to pound the streets starting at the Wisbech Park run before moving on to Wisbech St Mary, Walsoken, and Wisbech itself, Tracy saddled up to support them on a bike also in costume.
The runners were supported by friends and family dressed in bras as they completed the park run before continuing on to complete the 26 miles via Wisbech St Mary, Newton, Tydd St Mary, Leverington, and finishing back at Wisbech Park.
The team effort netted £2,600 for the charity which supports people like Tracy living with secondary breast cancer, raises awareness of the condition, and funds research.
In the meantime, Tracy who is married to Gary and has two grown-up children Harry, 25, and Maisie, 22, is continuing her fight to be given a drug that has the potential to extend her life by an extra two years.
However, while Enhertu is available to patients in Scotland it is not prescribed in England due to the cost.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which provides guidance for new technologies and drugs to the NHS, has not recommended the use of Enhertu after discussions between NHS England and the pharmaceutical companies failed to agree on a ‘cost-effective’ price. This means that it is unavailable to patients in England and Wales.
Tracy, 52, feels this incredibly unfair describing the decision as not just a postcode lottery, but a country lottery.
As a result, she is backing the Charity Breast Cancer Now’s Enhertu Emergency petition calling on NHS England and the drug companies to do everything possible to ensure this drug is available on the NHS and to give hope to patients like Tracy.
The charity needs signatures – and if you would like to help you can click here.
What do you think? Should the medicine be made available on the NHS?
