A COURAGEOUS mum who battled breast cancer has shed more than eight stone as she prepares for her dream wedding.
Lyndsey McAteer had gastric sleeve surgery to shrink her stomach by 80 per cent in a bid to reach her target weight of 13 stone after a treatment plan and a pregnancy caused her to pile on the pounds.
The mum-of-two, who has endured gruelling chemotherapy and a mastectomy, is now determined to get in shape to tie the knot with her fiancé Martin O’Connor next year.
Lyndsey, from Renfrew, is also training to take part in Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life.
She said: “I still have some weight to lose, but I’m feeling great after losing eight and half stone since my surgery last September.
“I’m getting married next year so I’m determined to get in shape and I’m looking forward to doing Race for Life, I can’t wait. It’s going to be an amazing day and a great way to mark 10 years of being clear of cancer.”
It will be an emotional moment for Lyndsey when she stands on the start line at Glasgow Green ahead of the 5k on May 21. The 40-year-old, who was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer at just 29, knows exactly how vital it is to raise funds for life-saving research.
She took part in her first Race for Life event in May 2013 just two days after her fourth chemotherapy treatment for the disease, and when Lyndsey returned to take part in the event the following year, she met Martin.
This year, her sons Harris, 12, and Ellis, seven, are joining her alongside her best friend Ruth Coulter.
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Lyndsey said “I feel like I’ve been beating the odds every single day since my diagnosis.
“I pushed my son Harris in his pram at my first Race for Life. Now he’s at high school and I can’t believe where that time has gone. Race for Life will always have a special place in my heart, but I know being there will bring back a lot of memories. It’s a chance to say thank you, to pause for a moment and to take in everything that’s happened in my life. Life has been a rollercoaster these past 10 years but I feel blessed to be here.”
Lyndsey was a single mum to two-year-old Harris when she found a lump in her left breast. Just four days before Christmas in 2012, tests confirmed she had breast cancer. She had a mastectomy and marked her 30th birthday in hospital recovering from surgery.
Before beginning chemotherapy at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, doctors warned the treatment could make her infertile. She was offered the chance to have her eggs frozen but decided against it.
Lyndsey said: “I already had my son Harris.
“I decided not to freeze my eggs as I didn’t want to delay the chemotherapy starting. Doctors told me there was a high chance of the cancer coming back so I wanted to get the treatment started as soon as possible.”
After chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Lyndsey finished treatment in October 2013. And in early 2015, Lyndsey received a wonderful surprise when she fell pregnant naturally with Ellis, who was born in November. Then, to mark five years free of cancer in 2017, on the anniversary of her diagnosis on December 21, Martin proposed.
Lyndsey added: “I was overjoyed.
“Some wonderful things have come from something so awful. When I had chemotherapy treatment at 29, I feared I’d never have another child. But my focus at that time had been fighting cancer. That’s why when Ellis came along he really was a little miracle and a sign that cancer didn’t win.”
Race for Life, in partnership with headline sponsor Standard Life, is an inspiring series of 3k, 5k, 10k, Pretty Muddy and Pretty Muddy Kids events which raise millions of pounds every year to help beat cancer by funding crucial research. To mark the 30th year of Race for Life and participants will receive a special medal to mark the milestone.
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Cancer Research UK spokeswoman in Scotland, Lisa Adams, said: “We are grateful to Lyndsey and her family for their support.
“We’d love for as many people as possible across Scotland to join us during our 30th year of Race for Life.”
To enter, visit raceforlife.org
To donate to Lyndsey’s fundraising page go to:
https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/team/all-the-breast-10-years-on
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