A young woman has told how she 'struggled to get out of bed' after suffering severe depression following a brain tumour diagnosis aged just 16.
Flora Bouchier, originally from Buckinghamshire, was diagnosed with a grade 1 glioneuronal brain tumour when just 16 in 2016. She had the tumour removed and suffered with post-operative depression and only started to recover after attending university and throwing herself into sport.
The chemical engineer now lives in West Didsbury has since hade a full recovery with no lasting effects. Flora competed in the Manchester Marathon on Sunday (April 16), running in aid of the Brain Tumour Research charity, raising £2,850 so far.
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The 23-year-old said: "When I was ill, I didn’t exercise for a long time. I really struggled to get out of bed and was quite unhappy with myself. I put on lots of weight because I was so inactive, but now I’m feeling fitter than ever, loving life and happy to be able to run around.
"I definitely want to keep running because I really enjoy being active and am super fit at the moment, but I think I’d rather run more as a hobby and do it when I want to, rather than because I have to. It’s a bit of a lifestyle change training for a marathon.
"I was putting so much of my time into it and having to eat so much because I was constantly hungry. I was also having to be really strict with my sleep because getting less than eight hours and having to do a long run isn’t fun."
She smashed her original fundraising target of £2,000 with her current tally more than the £2,740 it costs to fund a day of research at a Brain Tumour Research centre of excellence. Flora aimed to run the marathon in sub-four hours, and came in with a time of three hours 58 minutes.
"I’m very happy with my time of three hours 58 minutes. I signed up for a half-marathon three weeks before and got 1:52:30, so I started thinking sub four might be possible, and, in the end, decided to go for it," she said.
“I managed 1:55 for the first half but started feeling queasy after 20 miles because I hadn’t drunk enough water. I did a bit of maths and worked out how much time I had left and how much I could afford to slow down. When I was three miles from the finish, I knew I could comfortably achieve sub-four hours and was able to enjoy the last couple of miles.
"I think I strained my quad, though, because I was running in pain with eight miles to go and I can’t walk downstairs at the moment – I have to hop one step at a time."
On the money she raised, Flora added: "That’s amazing because I wanted to do it to help those who are maybe not as fortunate as me; people with poorer prognoses, or without adequate treatment options."
Charlie Allsebrook, community development manager for Brain Tumour Research, said: “Flora is an inspiration and should be rightly proud of what she’s achieved. We’re so grateful for all her support. Brain tumours kill more children than leukaemia and any other cancer, yet, historically, just 1 per cent of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease. Together we will find a cure."
For more information about the Brain Tumour Research charity click here. To view Flora's justgiving page, click here.
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