By Steve Mather
TREK: Cancer survivor Lorraine Chandler is set for her expedition.
A CANCER survivor who underwent a double mastectomy says she is “very much alive and loving it” as she prepares for a trek through the sweltering African desert.
Five years ago, Lorraine Chandler was diagnosed with the highest possible grade of breast cancer which had spread to her lymph nodes.
After undergoing surgery and lengthy courses of chemotherapy, she has made a good recovery and her serious health scare has left her determined to live life to the full, starting with a fund-raising walk across the Sahara Desert.
Mrs Chandler, aged 44, of Kings Road, Evesham, will set off for southern Morocco on Saturday, October 20, and will be trekking about 127 kilometres over the course of five days. She will be joined by 13 others who have bravely battled illness and won, while raising money for cancer charity Odyssey.
“I was diagnosed with breast cancer aged 38. After a double mastectomy and lymph node removal, I then had eight, three-weekly treatments of chemotherapy, followed by 25 daily sessions of radiotherapy,” she said.
“What better way to celebrate that I’m very much alive and loving it, than to trek across the Sahara Desert for a wonderful charity that has helped me put the zest back into my life? It is a self-funded trip and all of the money I raise will go to the charity.”
A member of the Worcester Busters – a dragon boat crew of breast cancer survivors – Mrs Chandler took part in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee boat pageant over the summer and has won three gold medals for Great Britain in the European Dragon Boat Championships.
“I still have yearly visits to the hospital but all is well at present,” she said.
To sponsor Mrs Chandler, visit justgiving.com/LorraineAChandler or go to Barclays Bank in Evesham, where people can pay straight into an account she has set up in the name of Lorraine’s Odyssey Trek Evesham. For more information on the work of the charity, visit odyssey.org.uk.
