For the month of September I will be posting a daily photo, as I have done in previous years.
I took a photo of these sunflowers today that are on my allotment. It's three years to the day that we lost the lovely Charlotte Easton to cancer.
I still remember the shock of discovering she had this disease. I was in Milan at the time, and suddenly read the news in a Facebook post she wrote.
Both her parents had been battling cancer, and she had decided to run the London Marathon to raise money for the Macmillan Cancer Support. We had gotten used to seeing posts in which she documented her progress with her running training.
Charlie was known as cycle racer, and a pretty good one too. Having been an elite rower she crossed over into cycling and raced well enough to get an elite racing licence in that sport. So we were interested in seeing how she would get on as a runner. But then in 2012 she suddenly announced that she had breast cancer and would not be able to run the London Marathon. Her sister would run it instead.
We all believed that Charlie, being the determined lady she was would beat it. She did everything she could to stay healthy and try all remedies as well as accepting the harrowing treatment and surgery as someone who had the BRCA gene.
At the same time Charlie continued to do sport when she was well enough, doing a few Park runs, a triathlon, and even a couple of cycle races. So I certainly stayed positive, thinking that she would overcome the cancer. After all, her parents had done so.
But things went downhill rapidly for Charlie in 2016, and over the August Bank Holiday she made the terrible announcement that "the bitch" as she called it, was in her brain, and referred to going on "the next great adventure".....she died six days later aged 36.
I like to think she is up there winning lots of cycle races in between doing Latin and Ancient Greek - her other passion. And maybe she has even able to do a marathon. Race in Peace, Charlie. x
Charlie (2nd left), w a time trial in Regents Park in 2011. Helen McKay (left) was 2nd, and Jo McCrae, Lydia Boylan and Astrid Wingler came 3rd equal |
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