Mum in double cancer battle prepares to Race for Life

Julie Hawkins will be running the race with her lifelong friend, Lyndsey Garrett, who has supported her through both cancer diagnoses.

The two 45-year-olds will be tied together and three-legged for the 5k route around Thornes Park in Wakefield next Sunday.

Ms Hawkins will also be celebrating her daughter Jenna graduating from university as a doctor - a dream the 24-year-old first voiced at the age of 11 when her mum was first diagnosed.

She said: “Jenna had written the word ‘cancer’ on a piece of paper and each time I went in for my treatment she rubbed a bit of the word out, which really helped her deal with it. Then Jenna wrote a note that said ‘When I grow up, I’m going to be a doctor and help people’ which I thought was really kind and thoughtful. She always worked hard at school, but I thought this was just a dream she had.

“But on July 12, I will have one of my proudest moments of my life when I see my daughter graduate from Keele University - as a fully qualified doctor. Just like she told me she would all those years ago.”

Ms Hawkins was first diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of cancer of the white blood cells, in 2001.

It is now one year ago this week that Ms Hawkins finished her treatment. She said: “It is really important to me that we can raise money to support research as it helped me beat cancer twice.”

There is still time to sign up for Sunday’s event. Entries close at midnight on Friday, May 13.

Visit www.raceforlife.org or call 0300 123 0770.