The Great North Run is a huge challenge but one of this year's participants is no stranger to those.
Ewan Bowlby from Hexham in Northumberland was diagnosed with a brain tumour in his early 20s and has spent the last few months training for the half-marathon. Despite the knowledge that his life may be cut short, Ewan has packed a number of life events into the last few years and he says that having things to look forward to and to work for that have really kept him going.
Between Ewan's multiple cancer treatments and four major operations, he has been in the process of completing a PHD, becoming a published academic and a Maggie's Centre Ambassador. He got married to wife Karlee, an artist and illustrator, in May and described it as "the best day of his life."
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Now, with no way of curing his cancer and only palliative treatment options available, despite never having trained for a race before Ewan is set to hit the start line of the Great North Run with his dad, Chris, this Sunday. This is the latest in a series of big events that Ewan says have seen him through.
Ewan said: "I’m taking on the Great North Run with my dad for Maggie’s, the cancer care charity. I’m managing training quite well so far – yes, it’s tiring but I’m running for Maggie’s, an important cause which is close to my heart and that is helping me to stay motivated and push myself.
Maggie's, which provides free cancer support and information to those affected by the disease, has a centre at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. However, Ewan's first visit to one of the service's 24 centres was in Oxford.
Ewan continued: "I first set foot in Maggie’s Oxford during some of my darkest days after my first two operations for cancer. The psychological impact of what had happened to me in my early twenties was huge, and back then I wasn’t emotionally mature or very well-equipped to deal with it all."
"Obviously, I had the full support of my family but there was no counselling or anything offered. Then, fortunately, I found Maggie’s and they offered me tremendous support. The staff there helped me to come to terms with my condition and my operations which had been very scary.
"It was particularly surreal because at one point I had to have an ‘awake craniotomy’, which meant I was fully conscious during a six-hour long operation which cut through my skull to work on my brain to remove as much of the tumour as they could. This was so that when the surgeons were working on me they could see what was happening in other areas of my brain for speech and language and movement, which were also close to my tumour.
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"Unfortunately, trying to process all of this myself meant I had become quite introverted and closed off, but coming to Maggie’s and speaking with the specialist cancer support staff and other people who’d had their own cancer experiences, helped me to process what I’d been through and to try to find a way forward. The people I met at Maggie’s helped with guidance and friendship and I learned to speak with my friends and family and be me again.
"After a break from university, a further year of chemotherapy and seven weeks of radiotherapy, Maggie’s even gave me the confidence to go on and do my PHD at St Andrews University. I thought I’d also closed myself off romantically but fortunately, that’s where I also met my wife, Karlee."
Ewan also spoke of his support structure and his dependable dad and family. He continued: "When I was first diagnosed, the prospects of me living to age 30 were in the balance, but I’ve done so much in the last six years despite my diagnosis, that I think I’ve come to terms with the idea of having my life cut short in ways that most 27-year-old never have to – but that’s down to the support networks I’ve had and I couldn’t be more grateful.
"Unfortunately, there are no more curative treatments that the doctors can offer me so right now my life does feel quite uncertain. The life expectancy for someone with a condition like mine is around seven years, so there’s no assumption that I’ll be alive next year.
"That said, I’m happy to say my life feels exciting and full at the moment with my wife, Karlee, and my family. I’m doing the Great North Run for Maggie’s with my dad because he has been a dependable, generous source of practical and emotional support throughout my life and throughout my whole cancer story.
"Without my dad, all my family and Maggie’s, I couldn’t have made it through the cancer chaos, so it feels great to be bringing them together in one event."
You can support Ewan in his Great North Run at this link.
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