Featured Runner
Julia Heron
Julia Heron, Teacher, aged 42 from Malvern, will be running the Vitality Oxford Half Marathon on Sunday 11th October 2015 after battling Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia.
In September 2012 Julia was enjoying a holiday of a life time in Florida, when she suddenly collapsed in her hotel room. She was admitted to a local hospital then rushed to the MD Anderson cancer hospital in Orlando within a day. After days of receiving expert medical care Julia was eventually stable enough to be flown back by air ambulance to Worcester Royal Hospital.
Due to her illness Julia was left with very little immunity, so during her chemo she was isolated for seven weeks in a barrier control room. One of the outcomes of this was the loss of muscle strength in her legs; she struggled to even lift her legs to climb the stairs! Julia left hospital on 20th December 2012, two days before her 40th birthday and she was more determined than ever to beat the illness and get her strength back. Julia bought a treadmill for herself and slowly taught herself to run again.
Julia said: “I wanted to run, build up my distance, increase my stamina and just focus on something other than my illness. I have now been in remission since February 2013. Running has helped me through the recovery process, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. Rather than worry about my three monthly bone marrow biopsies it is more a case of hoping I can get over them quickly so it doesn’t hinder the races I might want to enter!
“Running has given me a new focus in my life that I absolutely love. I can safely say that if it hadn’t been for my brush with cancer I would not be running now and I’m probably fitter now than I have ever been. The Vitality Oxford half marathon will be my 7th half marathon race since my diagnosis and I’m really looking forward to running on home turf. I grew up in a village near Wallingford and spend many weekends in Oxford so it will be lovely to enjoy the beautiful City whilst I run.”
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