May 2025 - OPA

This workshop is being held at Hope Community Church, Deveron Way, Hinckley, LE10 0XD on Tuesday 10th June 2025 @ 10:00 – 13:00

This relaxed, informative session is open to anyone affected by cancer, no matter what stage they are at in their journey, and will offer practical, no-cost strategies to help improve sleep and reduce fatigue.

Led by Clinical Sleep Scientist Louise Peers, the workshop explores what healthy sleep looks like and why it often gets disrupted, everyday changes that can improve rest and boost energy levels, and tools and techniques for better sleep hygiene.

A huge thank you to Pamela who is taking on five races, in memory of her partner Ewan, to raise vital funds and awareness for the OPA Cancer Charity!

If you’d like to support Pamela in her fundraising efforts, you can do so via her Just Giving page:
🔗https://www.justgiving.com/page/pamela-gibb-1

Pamela's Story

“As some may know I lost my partner Ewan Robertson to oesophagus cancer. Ewan was treated for Acid Reflux for 8 month in 2022 which then turned out to be oesophageal cancer. As this is a cancer not really known about and in memory of Ewan, I have decided to raise awareness and funds from the following events I am doing this year. Monikie 5k (May) Race for for life (June) Forfar 10K (August) Edinburgh Ladies 10K (September) and Edinburgh Forth Road Bridge SuperNova (November). If you can spare a penny or two to help this charity I would really appreciate your support.” – Pamela Gibb

Dear Friends,

We’re delighted to share news of the upcoming OPA Meeting.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, 7th June, 2025, from 12:00 pm to 14:30 pm. We will be gathering at the C P Hart premises, located at Newnham Terrace, Hercules Road, London, SE1 7DR.

For your convenience, here are the venue particulars:

C P Hart is conveniently situated within a 10-minute walk from Waterloo Station
2 minutes away from Lambeth North Tube Station.

Light refreshments will be provided during the meeting.

Agenda

12:00pm – 12:30pm – Welcome, and opening comments, introduction and update re OPA by John Campolini (Chair)

12:30pm – 14:00pm – Telling Your Story: Personal Journeys with Oesophageal and Gastric Cancer

14:00pm – Farewell and closedown of meeting

If you would like to attend this meeting, please reserve your place via Eventbrite here.

These tickets are first come, first served.

We look forward to seeing you!

A huge thank you to Theo for taking on the challenge of the Manchester 10K to raise vital funds and awareness for the OPA Cancer Charity!

If you’d like to support Theo in his fundraising efforts, you can do so via his Enthuse page:
🔗 https://ajbellgreatmanchesterrun2025.enthuse.com/pf/theo-martin-wilson

Theo's story

I am running the 10K race on May 18th in support of the OPA Cancer Charity because of the profound impact this organization has had on my family. In 2013, my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 oesophageal cancer. While we were fortunate that he survived, the journey was incredibly difficult, both emotionally and physically. The OPA Cancer Charity provided invaluable support during that time, offering guidance, resources, and a sense of community that helped us navigate through the toughest moments. Running this race is my way of giving back to the charity that was there for us when we needed it most, and raising awareness to help others facing similar battles.

We’re excited to share the Spring 2025 edition of the OPA Cancer Charity Magazine. This issue features powerful personal stories, key updates on awareness efforts, and practical advice for patients and supporters.

Highlights include:

Awareness Month campaign highlights
Inspiring stories from patients and fundraisers
News of our refreshed booklets for patients and carers
Guidance on inheritance tax and legacy giving
Details of our next London support meeting

Read the full magazine here.

A HUGE congratulations Danielle, and thank you for choosing to support the OPA!

“I am very proud to have completed the TCS London Marathon 2025 and fundraised for the OPA.

In 2022, I was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and underwent curative treatment which involved 5 weeks chemoradiation followed by an oesophagectomy.

I ran before I had cancer and needed a challenge to regain my fitness to a level close to before I was ill. I was thrilled when the OPA chose me to fundraise for them and represent them at the London Marathon. The OPA’s literature on eating and nutrition after cancer surgery and resources and information on recovery were really helpful to my own recovery and this charity will remain forever close to my heart.

Having a really good reason to run motivated me through the training and fundraising. I organised a fun run with a raffle for my Scout group where I am a leader. I got married in February and my husband Paul and I had a guess the first dance songsweep stake. I got local newspapers to write about my journey to spread awareness of oesophageal cancer. I really enjoyed the process and even the longer 20mile + training runs.

It’s always been an ambition of mine to run the London Marathon and the weekend of the marathon was really emotional. I’d just reached my fundraising target before the weekend and I felt good having raised all that money for a good cause. I fulfilled a dream to run among the crowds and see all the famous London landmarks and I felt really grateful to have survived the cancer and still be fit and healthy enough to do this. The atmosphere was amazing and my favourite part was when a DJ along the route played the YMCA and all the runners and supporters did the arm actions! The first half of the marathon felt really good but I tired in the second half as it was a really hot day but the crowd energy and determination to finish got me through the second half. I was so happy to see my husband and my kids at the 25 mile mark cheering me on and being proud of me and then have the most iconic section of the run to complete with the London Eye, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and the Mall to run down. I managed a heel kick down the finishing straight to celebrate too. I will never forget this experience.

Thank you OPA for giving me the opportunity to run the London Marathon. A really big thank you to everyone who supported me and helped with my training and the upper GI at St James Hospital Leeds who gave me such excellent treatment and who were really supportive of my running and advised me on nutrition and hydration to help me run after my oesophagectomy. It’s a slow long recovery but you can have a good life and do amazing things after this cancer treatment. We need more of the population to be aware of symptoms so it can be caught at early stage for treatment. Keep up the good work, OPA xxxx”- Danielle

Click here to view Danielle’s Fundraising Page

“My Story

On the 27th April 2025 I will run the TCS London Marathon to raise funds for the Oesophageal Patients’ Association (OPA) to repay their kindness for supporting me during my own cancer treatment and recovery and to help them raise vital funds to provide emotional support and dietetic advice to people living with oesophageal cancer and to spread awareness of this cruel condition.

My connection to Oesophageal Cancer and Running

I began running in 2016 and love the physical and mental challenge of it. I started from running parkrun and built up my fitness to run the Manchester Marathon in autumn 2021. At the peak of my fitness in May 2022, I was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer completely out of the blue after noticing a change in my swallow. It was devastating as I have no family history and no explanation why I came to have a 6cm squamous cell carcinoma tumour in my mid-oesophagus. Waiting for the results of the diagnostic scans and MDT reviews was the most fraught and anxious time of my life. Running helped me through this: it was no longer about training to get faster times or run further, my goal was to stay fit for treatment and to look after my mental health. Thankfully, I had been diagnosed early before there was any spread and qualified for curative treatment. I had chemo and radiotherapy in summer 2022 which was brutal – I suffered radiation induced oesophagitis and could no longer eat or drink so needed a feeding tube for nutrition and hydration and morphine to manage my pain. I kept active and the swelling and pain reduced after 6 weeks so I was able to complete The Great North Run in September 2022 with an NG tube 10 days before I had my Ivor Lewis oesophagectomy. I had to hang up my running shoes for a few months to heal from the massive procedure, relearn to eat and get enough nutrition and rebuild my strength to be able to run again. Getting back to running has helped me regain fitness and motivate me, when I improve at running I know my body is healthy. It has been a frustrating and long recovery at times but I am now heathy enough to have run a half marathon again and my times at other distances are getting quicker and close to where I was pre-surgery. My team at the hospital are amazed with my recovery and were so happy for me when I brought them my GNR 2024 medal to clinic to show them. The hospital dieticians are thrilled to be giving sports nutrition advice to a cancer survivor too! I am ready for this marathon challenge!

My recovery has been so positive thanks to my wonderful partner Paul and my children; my friends, work and Scout group; cancer support groups; the incredible team at St James’ hospital, Leeds; and many wonderful charities like the OPA who have provided me with information and support along the journey. At the start of the surgical recovery, I was given a lot of reading material by the OPA which helped me so much when I was learning to eat again. The OPA card that informs restaurants of my limited stomach capacity or that I might need to use their disabled toilets was so helpful to me. When I received an email from the OPA in October looking for people to run TCS London Marathon 2025 for them who had ambition to run the distance, had a personal connection to oesophageal cancer and who would be committed to fundraising, I felt that I would be a great candidate for this and I am thrilled that they have chosen me to run for them and hope to raise them lots of funds!

Please support me on my run and fundraising for my cause. If you are able, please sponsor me any amount is gratefully received but I understand times are hard so if that’s not possible then keep encouraging me as I keep building up my mileage and please share this page and spread some information which may lead to a life-saving early diagnosis for someone else. Not all oesophageal patients are as fortunate as me. :’(

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page and for your support

Danielle xx”

An update from Danielle - 3 weeks to go!

I am writing to update you on my marathon training and fundraising. With less than 3 weeks to go I have completed my longest run of 24 miles. I’ve gone a bit further than some runners because of the oesophagectomy so I wanted to check I can keep hydrated and well fuelled. I am ready for the race and looking forward to it.

I have raised 93% of my £2000 target and am confident to have that in full before the day. I’ve done some awareness of oesophageal cancer at my work, at my scout group and within my local community. In Scouts we did a fun run and I designed a sew on badge.

http://www.southleedslife.com/cancer-survivor-danielle-to-run-the-london-marathon

http://bit.ly/DanielleOPA