Slaying the Dragons

How a daily walk up a hill helped a Bowland mum beat cancer and launch a fulfilling new career

After a series of health niggles, Jane Huddleston just thought she might be a bit stressed and run-down, so she resigned from her fast-paced job and decided to take things easy for a while. Just over a year later, as the pandemic spread across the world, the mum of two received a cancer diagnosis and her life turned upside down. Jane endured six rounds of chemotherapy as the nation entered the first lockdown. Her treatment and condition made her super-vulnerable to the virus, so she had to completely isolate herself from everyone but immediate family for six months. She celebrated her 40th birthday with the news that her lymphoma was in remission, so to rebuild her fitness and stamina, and mark the start of her new life at 40, Jane decided it would be a great idea to climb Clougha Pike – a well-known landmark in the Lune valley – 40 times. “From some viewpoints, the top of Clougha looks like a sleeping dragon and we’d always told the children that dragons lived in the mysterious caves up there, so once I felt well enough, it was magical to be able to get back up there and look for them with Matthew (8) and Charlotte (6).” As her strength returned, Jane recalled some of the stories she used to make up for the children and while wandering around the gnarly outcrops and tumbling screes of Clougha, she began arranging these stories into more structured narratives. “I can’t tell you how inspiring it was to get outdoors and up into the hills after such a long period of isolation. These walks became a real respite from the day-to-day grind of recovering from cancer and getting your life back on track. “The change of physical, emotional and mental perspective unleashed a real torrent of creativity and I’d get back home and start writing furiously before I’d forgotten the plots I’d dreamed up whilst walking. The words just poured out of me and I got quite involved with the characters.” By the time she had completed 40 ascents of Clougha, Jane had created a whole tribe of dragons – each with their own backstory – and started looking for an illustrator with the intention of selfpublishing her stories. Teaming up with local artist David Robinson, from Preston, ‘Theo’s Birthday’ – the first of Jane’s Sunburst City Dragons series was published in July.

Written in rhyme to make them readily accessible to younger readers, each of the books focuses on of the dragon clan and their adventures. Within a few weeks of going on sale, the first book hit Number 1 in the Amazon charts and sales went through the roof. Jane ended up appearing on BBC Breakfast Time to talk about her creations and the first five books continue to sell well. Some of the profits from book sales are going to charities who supported Jane and fellow cancer patients during her chemotherapy: Cancer Care Lancaster, Lymphoma Action UK, Macmillan and Homestart. Jane is now working part time and looking forward to the publication of the next books in her series. “I still can’t quite make sense of what’s happened over the last two years, but I’m certain of one thing: those daily walks up that hill were central to my recovery, and without them, those books wouldn’t have been published. “I just hope that some of the money they raise for charity will help other families who are going through the same experience.”