Carly Ellis had a big week at the end of March 2020. As a challenge to break the tedium of the early stages of lockdown, the hair colourist from Kent set off to run an unofficial marathon – only her second time to complete that distance after doing the London Marathon in 2005. Around the same time, she had discovered a lump in her breast and visited hospital for a mammogram. Soon she would learn for the second time that she had cancer.
The first time, 11 years ago, she was 31 and feeling surprisingly lucky. It was 6mm in size, caught at an early stage. She had a lumpectomy and radiotherapy and took the hormone therapy Tamoxifen for the next five years. This time, at 43, more extreme measures were required. Advised to have one breast removed, Ellis chose to undergo a bilateral mastectomy and skipped the common process of reconstructive surgery.
'I was fine for 11 years but as I’d got it so young, I always knew it was likely to come back,' she says. 'I’d done a lot of research in the meantime and decided what I would do. I don’t care what I look like – not to say I don’t make an effort sometimes – but as long as my family is happy and healthy, and as long as I can run, I’m content. Having boobs is not a big thing for me.'
Marni Sneakers mit klobiger Sohle Instagram account to encourage her sons Billy and Rory, aged 20 and 18, to make their own running less sporadic by documenting their progress (her husband Matt often joins her too, but her daughters Annie and Heidi, 13 and four, are currently less keen). Titled 'It Runs in the Family', the concept is simple: a rosy-cheeked group selfie at the end of every outing, with the mileage and pace pasted on top. She’s now approaching 2,600 followers.
Five weeks after her operation in May 2020, she broke from the Instagram routine by posting a very different picture: at home, in just running shorts and socks, showing the scars across her chest from the procedure. Hundreds of likes later, she’s unsure why people keep telling her how brave she is.
'I do feel like a bit of a fraud when I talk about my cancer. People don’t believe that I can be so positive about it, but I’ve never had the attitude that I’m going to live forever without any health problems. I see that I’ve been lucky and I’m just grateful,' she says. 'I don’t get down about things. I look at things as they are and not worse than they are.'
Her online updates are more about her family’s running progress rather than her own cancer journey. She was passionate about the positive impact of running well before her illness, having taken it up when her boys were tiny. 'I was at home with two boisterous toddlers and struggling. I found everything hard work and had that mum guilt, wondering what was wrong with me because I wasn’t enjoying it.'
Then she watched the London Marathon on TV with her husband and they both decided to give it a go. 'The first time, after about five minutes, I was like a tomato. I couldn’t breathe. But something made us go again. One day I did four miles without stopping and something just clicked. It changed everything for me. It changed the way I felt about myself as a mum. I would go out all stressed and come back a completely different person.'
She stresses that her online presence isn’t a case of the fake positivity with which Instagram is so afflicted. She really is that upbeat. 'I talk to my friends and can see that they think I go home and cry. I understand that my attitude might be unusual. But I really am happy and just grateful that it’s me and not one of my kids,' she says. 'People say I was so brave to show what I look like now, but I actually don’t think I look bad. In clothes I think I look better than I did.'
Recently she ran her fastest ever time for a mile, and now she’s thinking about trying an ultra. No doubt we’ll hear all about it when she does. ‘To be honest, I’m shocked that anyone is interested in what I’m doing. I know social media gets a bad press but through this, I’ve found the running community is amazing.’
Follow Carly on Instagram @itrunsinthe_family
ANOTHER RUNNER WHO’S HAD A MASTECTOMY
Nicky Spinks
meghan markle prince harry son archie ugg boots puppy jacket her website. Three weeks after her single mastectomy in July 2006 she was back racing in a four miler. She has gone on to complete extraordinary doubles of the three most famous British mountain rounds – the Bob Graham, the Paddy Buckley and the Ramsey Round.
