Northampton cancer patient hails 'the power of exercise'

Victoria Skinner took up an exercise programme in December 2022 with the aim to complete a fitness challenge

A woman living with terminal cancer says she is harnessing "the power of exercise" in her efforts to support others dealing with the disease.

Tor Skinner, 37, from Northampton, was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in 2015, aged 28.

After treatment she was declared cancer free, but in 2021 she discovered she had incurable secondary cancer and was told she had three years to live.

She has raised £31,000 and is in the process of setting up her own charity.

Tor with her husband Joe and Isla Rose, her four-year-old daughter

Mrs Skinner, an event planner, said she discovered a lump in her breast that was found to be an aggressive and fast-growing form of cancer.

She was treated quickly at Northampton General Hospital and had a mastectomy, before undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormone treatment.

Victoria - or Tor - Skinner, who also plans weddings, married Joe in 2018

"I didn't want to be on any cancer treatment, as I got married in 2018, to Joe, as I was told it was safe and I could come off it for a couple of years and then go back on it," she said.

"I had been told I would be infertile, which was devastating, but I somehow defied all the odds and had a miracle baby girl, Isla Rose, who was born in April 2019.

"She was an unexpected, completely amazing surprise."

Mrs Skinner said: "Together we need to fight that taboo, step out of our comfort zones and show what cancer patients can do"

In 2019 she was put back on her treatment but by 2020, when she decided to have reconstruction surgery, she started experiencing "excruciating pain in my ribs" which she thought was due to the operation.

She underwent a bone scan at Northampton hospital and thought "it would tick a box and it would all come back clear".

"I got the devastating news that the cancer had returned, I felt like my world had fallen apart all over again," she said.

By October 2022, she said she was "struggling" as more treatment began.

Last year the family organised a special trip to Disneyland

In December she decided to join her husband's gym, "so just to shut him up, I had a trial", she said.

"I knew that it was just what I needed.

"I will not be defined by the illness I have, I can sit back or let it take over, so I harnessed the power of exercise."

She decided she wanted to complete Hyrox, a fitness competition, so trained for it and finished the course in November.

She said she regularly feels the benefit of ice baths, where one has been set up in her garden

Through Tor-Rox, the charity she is in the process of formalising, she has raised £31,000, and hopes "to help other cancer patients get into and benefit from the power of exercise, to be able to access the world of fitness and built their strength and wellbeing".

She said: "A cancer diagnosis is a very dark place to be and if I can help people get through that, live the very best life for the time they have, that's what I want to be able to do."

"I'm fitter, stronger and healthier than I've ever been," and its down to training, Mrs Skinner said