More than £2,800 raised by Team Graves in Lincoln's Race for Life

​Charlotte Graves was given just months left to live in January last year after she was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer when she was 40 years old and 26 weeks pregnant with her son Charlie.

After 16 months of treatment, with six rounds of chemotherapy, 18 rounds of herceptin at home, and then 15 rounds of radiotherapy she was given the all clear.

But then sadly four months later, in December 2020, it was discovered that the cancer had returned and she was diagnosed with Stage IV recurrent breast cancer with liver metastases and this time she would never be cured, but could be treated as long as she kept responding to treatment.

In December 2021, it was discovered that the treatment had stopped working and the tumours were the biggest they’d ever been, and she was told sadly that she had months left to live.

She is now currently taking Kadcyla with herceptin as “maintenance chemotherapy” to manage her cancer, and her latest CT scan show that her tumour has shown no changes, and she is still stable, and her latest echocardiogram also showed her heart is coping well with the treatment, as is her liver function.

"My consultant is happy with how things are going at the moment and there’s even the possibility of a couple more treatment options, which is amazing considering last year I was told I was on my last chance,” Charlotte said, “But we’re going to continue with what is working.”

To raise money for Cancer Research UK, Charlotte and her family headed to the Lincolnshire Showground’s Race for Life on Saturday, July 15, to complete the 10k run – just after she had undergone more treatment, as well as having her grandad’s funeral and bringing home new Sprocker puppy Billy all within the space of a few days!

"I’m feeling tired now, but I expected to as it’s been a hectic few days,” she said, “It was great fun though and we all did really well.”

Charlotte was invited to stand on stage in front of the 2,200 participants and set off the 10k, before completing the course alongside her family – husband Paul, son Charlie, 4, and step-daughter Shannon, as well as her brother Daniel, sister-in-law Nikki, and niece and nephew James, 12, and Jessica, 8 – aka Team Graves.

Four-year-old Charlie completed the 10k by walking, riding his bike, and on his uncle James’s shoulders, and Paul and Shannon ran the race, with Paul completing the race in an hour exactly.

"Paul said if I can’t push myself to do this when you’ve gone through all this treatment it doens’t feel right,” Charlotte said, “Especially when we’ve got so much sponsorship.”

Team Graves has raised more than £2,800 in their Race for Life challenge with money still coming in, and donations are still invited via their fundraising page at https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/team/team-graves-3

Not content with tackling the 10k, Charlotte and her family are now planning a 119-mile bike ride from Derbyshire to their home in South Reston, raising money for Cancer Research UK and Hope For Tomorrow which provides mobile cancer care units, set for August 18 to 20.