Geri
MoonWalker Chloe tells the story of her mum Geri:
“The Moonwalk London 2026 marks 20 years since our amazing Mum Geri completed her first MoonWalk, just a few short weeks before she died of secondary breast cancer, at the age of 36. To commemorate her, our family will walk in her footsteps!
Mum was first diagnosed with breast cancer in her early thirties – she found a lump and because of her age, was turned away by doctors initially. After her diagnosis, she quickly had a mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy. Her cancer went into remission, but she was still concerned about what the future might hold. The breast cancer she had was oestrogen fed and after extensive research, she asked her doctors to remove her ovaries and uterus to minimise the risk of cancer returning. Cancerous cells had been found in one of her lymph nodes following her initial surgery and as she’d already had three children – myself and my younger brother and sister – all she wanted was to live a full, cancer-free life, but she was told further surgery was unnecessary.
Then in late 2005/early 2006, she became concerned about some pain and started finding it harder to breathe. Her doctors told her that she was being paranoid!
In the end, she took herself to A & E. Following a referral from A & E she was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer, which had unfortunately already spread to her lung and liver. Mum went into survival mode. She didn’t tell me and my siblings – I was 15 at the time, my sister was 11 and my brother was just 9. Mum and Dad planned to tell us during the summer holidays, so that we would have six weeks away from school, processing the news together.
Instead, we took a trip – to New York, Toronto and Florida. Mum wanted to pack in all of these once in a lifetime-experiences, knowing her time was going to be cut short.
At Niagara Falls on the family’s trip of a lifetime in 2006. Left to right. Dad (Silas), Chloe, Mum (Geri). Bottom row. Kai and Ella.
She had already signed up to take on the Full Moon (26.2 miles) at The MoonWalk London in May 2006 and wasn’t going to let her illness stop her from doing that either. She just wouldn’t be defeated! Back in 2006, it was even more uncommon for someone in their early thirties to be diagnosed with breast cancer, as Mum had been. She was really passionate about raising awareness of breast cancer in young people and making people aware of what they should look out for.
Mum signed up for The MoonWalk with my Auntie and a group of other women – their team was called Geri’s Angels. My brother and sister travelled to London with our Dad to meet Mum at various places along the course – we were like a roving pitstop! Every time we saw her, she was smiling and singing. She made sure she enjoyed every second.
Geri at The MoonWalk London 2006
At the time, unbeknownst to us, she was having chemotherapy in tablet form. The treatment had made the skin on her hands and feet become very thin. When she took her off shoes after crossing the finishing line of The MoonWalk, her feet were bleeding. She hadn’t let on during the walk that she was in so much pain but had still managed to walk 26.2 miles with a smile on her face. As her children, we looked at her in awe just for taking on the challenge of walking so many miles, regardless of the fact she had done so in so much discomfort. We just thought she was a Wonder Woman and we were so proud of her – she’d raised thousands of pounds during that MoonWalk!
I was a little older than my siblings and could see that her health was obviously deteriorating, however I still didn’t think that Mum was going to die. These were the days before the internet and you couldn’t just look up information about cancer online. Thank goodness, because it would have been awful to find out what was in store for her, and our family. Ultimately, I did guess that Mum’s cancer was back, but my younger sister and brother had no idea.
In July 2006 Mum died.
Out of the blue – just a day before the school summer holidays when Mum planned to tell us about her secondary cancer – she was gone. Mum had been in and out of hospital with various symptoms – Dad told us it was due to the medicine she was taking and she would be ok. On the Monday evening, she asked me to go to the hospital with her, but I went out with friends instead. I had no idea just how sick she really was. If I had known about the secondaries, I would have spent every second I could have with her – it is still my biggest regret that I didn’t…
The following day I was doing work experience at the school where mum worked at the time. At lunchtime, I walked home to let the dog out, when my grandpa pulled over and told me to get into the car where he told me my mum had died. It was awful. Such a huge, huge shock – she was only 36. I’m almost at that age myself now, which gives me a real sense of perspective.
What happened to our Mum never leaves our minds. My siblings and I feel it’s about time more people know about Mum and how brave she was – especially the five grandchildren she never had the chance to meet.
Family photograph under a tree in Portugal.
That’s why we’ve signed up for The MoonWalk London as a family, including Auntie Sarah and our cousin Charlie and with my best friend and one of Mum’s oldest friends. To mark the 20th anniversary of mum’s passing, we want to put ourselves in our mum’s shoes – we want to show that same grit and determination which mum showed. I did The MoonWalk myself for the first time the year after Mum died. I was only 16, and it was an incredibly tough challenge. A marathon is a really long way and I honestly don’t know how Mum completed hers when she was so ill. It was a testament to who she was as a person.
Mum’s memory will definitely inspire us all on the night of The MoonWalk. We want to continue spreading her message – that people of all ages should check themselves vigilantly and push to get any changes looked at further by their doctor. The ultimate goal is that we don’t want other people to be robbed in the same way that we were, robbed of our Wonder Woman Mum and our children robbed of the most amazing Nana.”
Thank you for sharing your family’s story Chloe and we look forward to seeing you and your team at The MoonWalk London 2026.