Elaine conquers her health challenge head on.

If you’d have told Sto tfold’s Elaine Bly th a few years ago that no t only would she f ind herself a new hobby bu t it would also help her with some serious health issues, she cer tainly would no t have believed you After being diagnosed with Leukaemia ten years ago, Elaine was for tunate to receive a successful stem cell transplant after a donor match was found in the USA After receiving her treatment, Elaine su ffered some awful sideffects, including tirednesss, aching joints and chronic skin condition GvHD After receiving physio therapy it was suggested to Elaine that she star t up some kind o f gentle exercise to help her to effectively manage her symptoms

Elaine told the Sto tfold News Magazine “My sister and my bro ther have played bo wls for years, so my husband Terr y and I thought, ‘let’s give that a tr y’ Lo ts o f people think bo wling is a bit o f an old person’s spor t, bu t we quickly learned this was no t the case as there’s a lo t o f younger people who play. It’s ver y active and a great way to meet new people and open your circle f riends.” Bo wing quickly became a spor t that Elaine enjo yed, also f inding she had quite the natural flair for it!

“My GvHD impro ved along with my bo wls. After joining

Sto tfold Bo wls Club I became the ladies club champion in 2021, and then in 2022 I won the ladies Bo wls Bedfordshire County unbadged championship ” “It’s been a shock, a nice shock, bu t a shock I’ve never won any thing in my life and then after my transplant I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do any thing like this ”

“The people at my club kno w what I’ve been through ” “A lo t o f them have said, ‘I can’t believe you’ve been through ever y thing you’ve been through and here you are winning trophies.’” “I still have times when I feel do wn, there are good days and bad days, bu t things like this pick me up and make me want to carr y on.”

Thankfully Elaine has been suppor ted throughou t her journey by her f riends and family and continues to make good progress living with and managing her condition

Huge congratulations to Elaine on no t only her recent spor ting successes bu t also for pro ving to us all that there are still positives that can be found amongst some o f life’s toughest o f challenges