Vicky Maintain, 51, was left questioning how she would inform her youngsters
Vicky will canoe the Harken river with two of her shut mates (Picture: PA Actual Life)
A mother-of-two is commemorating the tenth anniversary of her most cancers prognosis by enterprise a canoeing expedition alongside Sweden’s Harken river, wild tenting all through the journey, after most cancers taught her to “not take life without any consideration anymore”. Vicky Maintain, 51, was recognized with stage three lobular breast most cancers in 2016, after discovering “fairly a giant lump” in her breast whereas showering.
Following a single mastectomy, six months of chemotherapy and each day radiotherapy, she obtained the information that she had overwhelmed most cancers in January 2018. Alongside two of her closest mates, Vicky will paddle the complete size of the Harken river in northern Sweden this September, navigating rapids, porterage by dams, and surviving within the wilderness for eight days, in a problem she described as “not going to be a breeze, however one thing that may really feel like a giant achievement once we do full it”.
She goals to boost £10,000 for Odyssey, an “unbelievable charity” that assists most cancers victims in rediscovering their enjoyment of life. “Reaching 10 years is one thing that I’ve received to rejoice,” Vicky mentioned.
Vicky, who resides in Whitstable and works in catering, discovered a lump in her left breast in Might 2016 when, after a good friend talked about she had found a lump in her personal breast, she realised she had by no means examined herself earlier than. That very same night, whereas showering, she felt “fairly a giant lump”, but assumed it “cannot be something sinister”, believing breast most cancers lumps have been usually pea-sized.
She left it for a month, satisfied it “would possibly simply go”, however ultimately visited her GP. She was swiftly referred for a mammogram, and recalled “that was the primary level once I thought it could be one thing sinister, as a result of there have been two nurses in there who have been taking a look at one another with a gentle look of concern”.
Following an ultrasound and biopsies, she attended an appointment with a guide at 4pm on June 22, 2016, and presumed that “they don’t seem to be going to inform me any unhealthy information that late within the day”. Nonetheless, she obtained the devastating information that she had lobular breast most cancers, which had unfold to her lymph nodes.
“You simply do not see it coming,” mentioned Vicky, a mom of two daughters aged 17 and 21, who’s marking her twenty fifth wedding ceremony anniversary this 12 months together with her husband, Gary.
“I keep in mind simply sitting there listening to these phrases: ‘Sorry, it’s breast most cancers’. They’d additionally discovered a tumour in my armpit as nicely, and it was fairly a big tumour.
“My first query to him was: ‘How am I going to inform my women?’. They have been seven and simply turned 12 on the time… you instantly simply assume you are going to die. And I did have one of the crucial aggressive sorts of most cancers. It was stage three, grade three. So if you really seemed on the statistics, the five-year survival charges have been really fairly low.”
Vicky was scheduled for a mastectomy three weeks later, throughout which her affected lymph nodes have been additionally eliminated, and 6 weeks following the operation she commenced chemotherapy. After six months of chemotherapy, she had a month’s break earlier than embarking on each day radiotherapy for a month.
Vicky underwent a gruelling 19 months of most cancers remedy and surgical procedures (Picture: PA Actual Life)
She was knowledgeable that with the surgical procedure, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, her five-year survival price was roughly 65 %, however “the way in which I used to be taking a look at that was like, nicely, that is a 35 % probability of me dying”. Nonetheless, in January 2018, Vicky was instructed there may be No Proof of Illness, (Ned) following a gruelling 19 months of most cancers remedy and surgical procedures.
“Now life is totally totally different. I very hardly ever take into consideration most cancers, however I did not assume I would be right here to be saying that,” she mentioned.
Over the previous eight years, Vicky has undertaken quite a few challenges to boost funds for most cancers charities, similar to Most cancers Analysis’s Stroll All Over Most cancers, the place she and her household walked 10,000 steps a day all through March 2018. To mark the tenth anniversary of her prognosis, Vicky needed to “do one thing huge”, one thing that will elevate a game-changing sum of money for a less-well-known most cancers charity.
Vicky first encountered Odyssey shortly after finishing her most cancers remedy, when she obtained an invite to one in all its retreats designed for these residing with, or who’ve survived, most cancers. The charity helps people battling the illness, those that have completed remedy and are working to rebuild their lives, in addition to these dealing with a terminal prognosis, providing residential breaks “the place you principally problem your self to do issues that are out of your consolation zone”.
“Had I identified what was on the agenda for that week, I might by no means have signed up for it…” mentioned Vicky, who opted to not reveal the itinerary in order to protect the ingredient of shock for future members.
“But it surely was such an unbelievable week that once I got here again, it simply type of felt like my life was going to be okay. I won’t survive 5, 10 years, however I’ve received to guarantee that the life that I am residing is worth it and counted. It gave me a totally totally different outlook on life.”
Upon discovering that Odyssey was organising an expedition to canoe Sweden’s Harken river in September 2026, Vicky resolved that this was exactly the problem she had been looking for, even enlisting two of her closest mates to affix her.
“I phoned my finest good friend… She was like, ‘100% – 10 years is one thing to be celebrated. Let’s do one thing that may problem us each’,” Vicky mentioned.
A detailed good friend of Vicky’s, whom she met by her native soul choir and found had battled most cancers concurrently, present process an identical surgical procedure and coverings, additionally agreed to affix the problem. Alongside paddling the river’s 150-kilometre stretch, the group will encounter quite a few obstacles all through their journey.
“There shall be some small rapids in areas, and a few dams that we have now to make use of porterage to maneuver the canoes between,” Vicky defined, including that she was instructed by somebody who has beforehand canoed the river that “at one level you need to carry all of your gear three-and-a-half kilometres to the opposite facet, the place you need to then put your boats again in”.
Vicky having chemotherapy for the primary time (Picture: PA Actual Life)
The group shall be wild tenting and cooking over open fires all through the expedition, and whereas temperatures sit at round 12 levels in the course of the day in September, they will plummet near freezing at night time. “I’ve by no means carried out wild tenting,” Vicky confessed.
“It is not simply wild tenting. There are not any bogs, so it is wild pooing and all that! That’s panicking me past what I can think about, I am like, Oh, God, that is method out of my consolation zone!”
Vicky and her companions will begin their coaching in April, having been suggested to swim loads of entrance crawl to construct the muscle tissues required for rowing. They can even undertake some sea swimming, “as a result of that is tougher and it is chilly”, alongside taking the kayaks out for prolonged periods.
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Every group member is aiming to boost a minimal of £1,500 to cowl their participation prices, with an total fundraising goal of £10,000, a portion of which shall be donated to Odyssey.
Vicky’s fundraising web page is accessible on GoFundMe.
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