York mum who fought cancer in wing-walking fundraiser

Jo Arundel at a charity abseil in Portsmouth in 2018

A York mum who was told she had cancer 11 years after her son's diagnosis is set to complete a charity wing walk.

Jo Arundel said doctors initially thought her three-year-old son Reece was suffering from constipation before tests revealed he had a tumour.

The boy underwent gruelling treatment before receiving the all-clear.

Nearly 11 years to the day, in 2015, Ms Arundel was told she too had cancer. She will now take to the skies to raise funds for charity Sarcoma UK.

Reece, who is now 23, still has regular check-ups after being treated for a rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare cancer which affected his muscle tissue around his bowel and bladder.

Much like when her son started developing symptoms, Ms Arundel did not suspect anything sinister when she started suffering from abdominal pain in summer 2014.

Jo Arundel (centre), her son Reece (second left), Reece's girlfriend Shannon (left) and Jo's husband Simon

The 44-year-old administrator said: "Being female I just put it down to menstrual pain and I kept putting off going to the GP.

"It wasn't really intense pain, I was still living a normal life. You don't always think it's going to be cancer or it's going to be bad."

The York lifeboat volunteer eventually saw her GP in November and was initially treated for irritable bowel syndrome.

After further scans and tests, Ms Arundel was told she had a gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST), the size of a tennis ball.

According to the NHS, only 900 people get diagnosed with this type of soft tissue sarcoma each year.

Ms Arundel said: "Reece and I both have a genetic condition that makes us more prone to developing benign masses.

"I didn't take it in at first, just like with Reece and then it hit me. The talk of surgery was a trigger point, this was potentially life-changing and quite invasive surgery."

Doctors managed to successfully remove the tumour and Ms Arundel is now classed as having "no evidence of disease".

Ms Arundel is hoping to raise £750 ahead of her wing walk on 23 September at Church Fenton airfield.

The money will go to charity Sarcoma UK.