Myself and Claire with our three sons, Jake, Matthew and Nicholas. This was the last time Claire made it to the dining table in her wheelchair for dinner.
“My wonderful wife Claire passed away in January, seven years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Our wedding anniversary is on Saturday 17th May – this year I’ll be marking the day by taking part in The MoonWalk London, organised by breast cancer charity Walk the Walk. I’ll be walking the Full Moon (26.2 miles) in Claire’s memory with a fantastic group of family and friends, including my youngest son Nicholas, who is just 14. We can’t wait!
Claire’s sister Cat was the first in her family to be diagnosed with breast cancer – a couple of years before Claire. Cat had one round of chemotherapy and the small tumour in her breast melted away – she’s doing very well now.
Then Claire was diagnosed with breast cancer too, aged just 38. We were on holiday in Majorca in 2017, when her armpit starting feeling very sore. She went to see our GP when we got back and although the doctor couldn’t feel anything suspicious, she decided to send Claire for a scan anyway, mainly because of her sister’s history.
The scan found a 5cm cancerous tumour in Claire’s breast. It was a huge shock, as she couldn’t feel it at all – possibly because she had quite large breasts. Following her diagnosis, she had chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a mastectomy – during the surgery, they also removed 28 lymph nodes and cancer was found in 23 of them.
Claire, on the right, having chemo – always happy and smiling regardless of how ill she felt
At this stage, Claire’s doctors were still confident that her treatment had been successful and that all the cancer had been successfully removed. She began the surgical process to have her breast reconstructed – which was challenging in itself. But in terms of the cancer, we thought that would be the end of it. Sadly, it wasn’t.
In December 2020, Claire found a lump in her shoulder. Following tests, this turned out to be cancerous as well, along with clusters of other nearby cells. Because more than one area was affected, unfortunately it wasn’t possible to operate. Claire had a round of radiotherapy and took tablet chemotherapy for a couple of years, during which time she was relatively well.
However, in 2022, a scan showed a new tumour growing where she’d had the mastectomy and another growing on her chest wall. The cancer then moved into her skin and the next couple of years it was like being on a slippery slope, as the cancer spread further through other areas of her body. At the end of 2024, it moved to her spine and bones and she was put onto end-of-life care. It was a very hard time for us all, but throughout everything Claire’s positivity just shone through.
She made it through our middle son’s birthday on 12th January this year, her own birthday on 17th and then passed away on 21st January at the age of just 46. It was devastating for us all to lose Claire. We have three sons – Jake, Matthew and Nicholas, who are 17, 16 and 14 – and we are all so proud of her. She fought against the odds and survived for much longer than we could have hoped. She was such an incredible fighter and her cancer didn’t stop her from doing so many things, even when she was very sick. She didn’t want her illness to affect the family and especially our boys.
Pictured on the right – Claire and our now 14 year old son Nicholas when he was a baby.
Our Team – Wadey’s Warriors – is very excited to be taking part in The MoonWalk London on Saturday 17th May, walking in Claire’s memory and in her honour. Claire’s sister Cat has done The MoonWalk previously and when she suggested we get a team for this year’s event – and I discovered it was taking place on our wedding anniversary – I knew it was a sign and said yes!
Alongside Cat and a number of other friends and family members, my youngest son Nicholas is doing the Full Moon (26.2 miles), as is his 14-year-old cousin Emma – we’re so proud of them taking on a big challenge at such a young age. I’ve completed a number of long cycling events in the past, but I’ve never walked or run a marathon. We’ve all been following the MoonWalk training plan – we know that walking a marathon will be a real challenge and we all want to be totally prepared!
We can’t wait for 17th May. It’s going to be an emotional day and Claire will be firmly in our thoughts. As a team, we want to do everything we can to raise awareness of breast cancer, at the same time as raising lots of money for vital projects which will support people like her and families like ours in the future.”
Thank you for sharing your story Alec and we look forward to seeing you and your team at The MoonWalk London 2025