'Losing part of a lung hasn't stopped my ambitions'

Monika Czuj celebrated when her salad store opened in Bedford's High Street in April 2022

A food entrepreneur said having to lose part of a lung after a melon-sized tumour was found in her chest had not stopped her ambitions.

Monika Czuj, 37, from Bedford, started Veggie Crush during the first Covid-19 lockdown, selling fully plant-based salads.

When the tumour was discovered last summer, she said: "I was a single mum, running my business and I was scared."

It was successfully taken out, but to help her recovery she decided to shut her shop and do more meal preparation for deliveries, because "nothing is stopping me".

Ms Czuj, who moved to Bedford six years ago from Poland, used to work in fraud investigation at the local council, but said she was inspired to make food "as I'm really passionate about healthy food, healthy living - I love salads, I have one every day".

During the first lockdown she decided to make healthy food for the community in her breaks, as "people were gaining weight" - and she believed healthy options were not easily available.

"I did not expect it to take off, the response was so positive," she said.

Ms Czuj said her work was "very rewarding"

She gave up her job at Bedford Borough Council to manage her business full-time and opened a shop on the town's High Street in April 2022.

However, the following August doctors "found a massive tumour - the size of a melon in my chest".

"We didn't know what was going to happen. Potentially I could have had a few months to live," she said.

Thankfully it turned out to be non-cancerous and she had successful surgery in London. However, part of a lung had to be removed in the process.

Speaking about her recovery, she said: "I couldn't move my arm, I couldn't talk properly, I couldn't breathe. I lost half of my lung.

"I'm fine now, but the recovery was very long and painful."

The High Street shop's first birthday was celebrated in April 2023

Ms Czuj said she decided to shut her shop last October, but was determined to carry on.

Switching to meal preparation was "more manageable for me", she said, and she has since expanded her deliveries into Milton Keynes and aims to launch meal plans for athletes, women in menopause and people with other health concerns.

"If you want to run a business, you have to stay in business, but run it in different ways. Just don't give up," she said.

Ms Czuj said she was "very proud" of the business she had grown from scratch