'I went from a prisoner at home to running the London Marathon with stage four cancer'

Since it began in 1981, the has raised over £1.3 billion for charity, making it the world's largest annual one-day fundraising event. On Sunday April 27, more than 56,000 people are expected to line up at this year’s start line and , including Linda Jackson, 58, and her 23-year-old son David.

Having first been diagnosed with metastatic cancer in 2011, Linda is living with stage 4 metastatic cancer and is running the marathon for Sue Ryder, Leckhampton Court Hospice. Despite remembering watching one of the first ever London Marathons as a child and thinking she could never take part herself, she’s looking forward to her latest challenge and is determined to cross the finish line.

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“I was first diagnosed with a rare neuroendocrine tumour which had spread to my liver when Dave, my son, was 10. It was a complete rollercoaster. While they were monitoring me and managing my cancer, they picked up that I had primary . I then went on the primary breast cancer journey of a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. A couple of years later they picked up that my breast cancer had spread to my bones, my lungs, my ribs and spine,” she tells .

“It's all a bit of a blur. You just live day by day and make the most of it. About two years ago I was struggling to breathe and found climbing the stairs a bit tricky. I went back to the doctor and they found that my lung metastases were growing and my lung was gradually filling up with fluid. I was really quite breathless, almost a prisoner in my own home at that stage.”

Having spotted a banner for Move Against Cancer’s ‘5K Your Way’ group while in the waiting room in the oncology unit one day, Linda decided to head to a local event in May 2022. From there, everything changed.

“One of the oncologists said, ‘I'll run with you, Linda’. I said ‘no, I'm going to be walking. I'll be huffing and puffing, but I want to do it. I want a sense of achievement’. So she walked with me. It was like having a one-to-one tutorial and she talked to me about steroids, dietary needs and how exercise was key. I asked how much more damage I’d cause to my lungs by exercising and she told me that the more you exercise, the better it is for your body, your chemotherapy and everything,” she explains.

“I thought the best project I could work on was me, so I looked at my diet and tried to walk more and gradually things improved. I completed the Couch to 5K within about nine months and I was able to actually move around the Parkrun.”

Having progressed with her running, it was this time last year that the thought of taking on the London Marathon first crossed Linda’s mind. After her son David attended the event to cheer on a friend, he eagerly entered the ballot – as did Linda. Although neither secured a place via the ballot, Linda was able to secure a charity spot and is now raising money for , Leckhampton Court Hospice. What’s more, David will be her support runner.

“Being able to have a support runner was a huge relief to me. I initially asked my husband if he’d be one. He’s been hugely supportive, but he replied, ‘I'll train with you, I'll do what you want, but I'm not gonna do the marathon’, so then I asked Dave how he felt about the prospect,” she says.

Despite giving her son time to think over the decision, his response was an immediate yes and the pair have spent months training together. “It's been fab. We've gone to Cardiff where he's a post-grad medical student. He's accompanied me and has shown me around and we’ve plodded the pavements. He's worked miracles and increased my confidence. I couldn't have a better support runner. We've had an awful lot of fun too,” Linda explains.

As part of the training process, Linda has discovered the power of exercise. Where once she would exercise three times a week, she’s been able to build up her training, though has listened to her body every step of the way.

“I pledge that exercise is the best medicine and it's something that you can do for yourself, so that's helped me and motivated me through this,” she says.

“I downloaded an app at time when everybody else who’s training for a marathon does. I tried to do what they suggested with the exercises, but I realised the app didn't know when I was having an off day, or when I was on my chemo, yet I was supposed to do a long run. I thought, I'm going to have to be kind to myself. If you can't do it today, there's another day tomorrow. Some days I had to turn around but on other days, I felt great. I just worked with how my body felt, really.”

And during the harder moments, Linda has found support in the people around her. “It has been challenging being on chemotherapy. The biggest challenge, I think, was getting huge blisterings on my hands and feet, but I couldn't feel them because of my neuropathy,” she explains.

“Move Against Cancer has been really supportive. Lucy Gossage is an oncologist who set up the 5K Your Way initiative and at times when my feet were blistering and hands were puffy as a side effect of some of the chemo, I contacted her and she took the time to message me. I was so positive and determined to do it, so I reached out to those that were positive and could help me with some of the challenges that I was facing.”

With this year’s London Marathon on the horizon, the final preparations are underway for Linda, David and their fellow runners. Although the nerves are naturally there, she can’t wait to be in her spot at the start line.

“Once I get to the start line, I know I'll be absolutely delighted. I read some data that 98% of people who get to that start line will finish. I thought that's such a positive message,” she says. “I've got friends and family that are turning up who have plans on how they're going to support us. I just want it to be a fun day. I want it to be a great memory and I'm really looking forward to it.”

Linda is running the London Marathon for national palliative care and bereavement charity, . To donate visit

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