Mum with incurable cancer wants to inspire others
Melanie Hartley-Toye ran the Rob Burrow Marathon last year just days before starting chemotherapy
- Published
A mum with incurable breast cancer hopes to inspire and help other families who are suffering from the disease when she takes on a half marathon.
Melanie Hartley-Toye, 40, ran the Rob Burrow Marathon in Leeds in May 2023, just three days before she started chemotherapy.
However, in November, she was told the cancer had spread and was incurable.
Despite the stage four diagnosis, she has refused to be downtrodden and vowed she will not let cancer "define" her life.
Mrs Hartley-Toye, who lives in Cleckheaton, has set up her own charity to help other people living with cancer and will raise money for it by running the annual Leeds Half Marathon on 12 May.
"I'd like for them to be able to spend a night away with their husbands or their children and make some memories," she told BBC Look North.
"This is for people who've got cancer or perhaps a stage four diagnosis like myself, who can't afford those little luxuries like a lot of us can.
"There might be some other direct support they need, such as funding a wake if they can't afford one.
"I thought setting a charity up, where I can make an immediate impact to some people's lives, would just help me through this even more."
Mrs Hartley-Toye said she wanted to make an "immediate" and positive impact on the lives of other families living with cancer
Mrs Hartley-Toye said that exercise had helped her cope with her illness and that she had continued to run, walk and go to the gym as much as possible.
She ran her first ever marathon last year "with a smile on my face", despite finding out just days before that she had cancer.
She said her diagnosis had "massively" changed her outlook on life and described every single moment with her husband and five-year-old daughter as "precious", as they approach the situation "positively".
"That's how I'm living my life right now," she added.
"There are dark moments. It's about how to channel that. It's not something we sweep under the carpet and pretend it's not happening.
"But we choose to deal with it in a manner where we're living our lives and enjoying our family time. I hope that will inspire other people to do the same.
"I'm living with cancer, but it's not defining me as a person and I hope that's a message people might take on board."
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