‘My Running Buddies Kept Me Going'

A glass of wine in a pub was mum-of-two Daisy Melville’s, 41, preferred form of relaxation until she was diagnosed with cancer. Then, to her surprise, she discovered a love of running…

- Georgina Maric

I stood there in shock. ‘I’m sorry to have to tell you this but the results show it’s cervical cancer.’ The consultant’s voice came through the phone loud and clear but it didn’t sink in. My toddler Matilda and baby Martha were in the next room, my then-husband Paul away for work. I felt very alone. I called my best friend Ali to come with me to my appointment to find out what would happen next. Even though I’d heard the word cancer, I couldn’t accept it was serious – I was only 33.

I felt lost

To ensure the cancer didn’t spread, I needed a radical hysterectomy – where the uterus, cervix, ovaries and fallopian tubes are all removed – in one month’s time. My first thought was ‘that’s fine’. I’d had my children – I just wanted it out.

That four weeks’ wait felt like six months. I needed scans, an X-ray and several preoperative tests to see if the cancer had spread. I was in a very negative frame of mind, planning my funeral, the music and who would do readings. Reality star Jade Goody had just died, aged 27, of the same cancer. I thought the worst, that soon it would be me and I wouldn’t see my children grow up.

But Ali kept me going. Fit and healthy, and a marathon runner to boot, she got me out of the house every day, going on walks with our children and listening while I talked. If it wasn’t for her and the kids keeping me occupied at that terrible time, I would have slipped into a deep depression. I still felt isolated. My friends and family were sympathetic, but it was my life and I felt it could go either way.