10 marathons in 10 days – Military vs Cancer

Charity

10 marathons in 10 days – Military vs Cancer

Scribe: Cpl Elena Mountford (5 Force Support Battalion)

Iam a serving REME Metalsmith who has taken on a huge challenge in the name of Military vs Cancer. I will be undertaking a huge challenge of 10 marathons in 10 days 23 Aug –01 Sep wearing full military kit, boots and body armour vest which alone weighs 10 kilos. Further info is available via

https://www.militaryvscancer.com/ cpl-elena-mountford/

I am doing this in honour of my biological mum who lost to cancer and my adopted mum who survived cancer thanks to the treatment she received at the Oncology Day Care Unit, Hexham.

I am doing this charity event to help raise awareness and money towards military personnel across all tri-services going through or who are having experiences with cancer. Having lost my biological mum to cancer and watching my adopted mum going through cancer treatment is something horrific and really spurred me to help and the training really helped me manage my stress levels whilst they went through their process.

Last year whilst managing to split my time between my job as a Metalsmith and multiple deployments, I managed to raise almost £6000 completing 5 marathons in 5 days and now I’m looking to start a new challenge and hopefully help a lot more people.

For all those wishing to help, donations can be made through https://justgiving.com/crowdfunding/elenamountford, or if you are around Lyneham and want to join in please feel free.

My Story

Scribe: Maj Jase Whitehouse (Late Entry officer with 30 years’ service) Over the last couple of years, I had experienced symptoms of what I now know to be Prostate Cancer (PC). At the time I took little notice believing it all to be part of growing older and learnt to live with them. However, in late October 2021, I decided to put my big boy pants on and spoke with a doctor, this started a process that saw me being diagnosed with PC 26 Apr 22. The positive diagnosis hurt (as you can imagine), however I maintain a personal mantra of PMA (Positive Mental Attitude), so despite the diagnosis I always believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. I underwent surgery on the 30 May and am currently in recovery, further tests in due course will determine if ‘it’ has gone. I decided to begin telling people for two specific reasons:

Firstly, to raise awareness. Prostate Cancer affects 1 in 8 men generally from the age of 50 onwards, I am yet to reach the half century and have been carrying symptoms for at least two years (so work your own scenario onto that). It’s a slow grower but can be spotted and treated early if found, a simple PSA blood test can do this, don’t be frightened to ask, do it. Search prostatecanceruk.org to understand signs, symptoms and actions for yourself, don’t be frightened do this either. Secondly, to help my mental health. In Feb 2022 when I knew there was a serious likelihood on PC, I chose to start talking about it (having kept it closely held until then). I found this was like releasing a pressure valve, making me feel better as a person and helping to focus on fighting the battle to come. I have spoken with many people about this and know the word is spreading. Messages of and actual support has been amazing and my gratitude is unreserved to those people.