Rachel’s Story

Rachel is an incredible supporter of Make 2nds Count and today I would like to share her story with you. 

Rachel was diagnosed with 2 different types of breast cancer in 2016. She had 6 rounds of chemotherapy (FEC-T) followed by a single mastectomy & 15 sessions of radiotherapy. Both types were HER2+ so she had 18 injections of Herceptin. Plus daily Tamoxifen tablets as one cancer was ER+.

Despite going through this gruelling treatment Rachel still felt fortunate in the fact she had had an open and frank conversation with her oncologist about the risks and signs of cancer spread. Following this conversation, Rachel knew she was high risk. She had a scare 2 years later, it had spread to her bones when she experienced rib pain in her side. This was, however, put down to radiotherapy damage but given monthly Denosamab injections as there was anecdotal evidence that it would speed up her healing. 

When COVID lockdowns occurred it was decided that Rachel would cease the injections but still be monitored with CT scans. In January 2021 she felt the rib pain again, at the front this time. Rachel contacted her oncologist to ask if her next scheduled scans could also include a bone scan as she felt she had ‘popped another rib’. Devastatingly they came back showing that she was now stage 4 with mets in her liver, lungs, spine & ribs. 

Following these results Rachel had a liver biopsy to determine which of her cancers had returned. It was the ER+ / HER2+ one. Her treatment has been 6 rounds of IV Docetaxol plus Pertuzamab & Trastuzamab. Plus Denosamab & Letrozole. After the 6 rounds of IV she has now moved onto 3 weekly Phesgo injections.

Rachel’s latest scans are very good, her bones are healing. The mets in her lungs are no longer visible and just 1 barely visible met in her liver. 

Rachel will spend the rest of her life on treatment.

When Rachel had the scare a couple of years earlier she had come across Make 2nds Count as a Scottish charity. Remembering the name when she received her diagnosis, she looked up the charity again and found that we are now nationwide. She signed up for the private support group that day and received hope from the group in those early days. Now Rachel is an active member in the chat group ‘2nds Together’ and participated in the zoom tea & a chat. Rachel has also participated in the Make 2nds Count Wellness Week sessions and is a keen member of the Craft Club. 

I asked Rachel why she chose to support the work of Make 2nds Count, and where the idea for ‘Daisy’s Taxi Rally’ came from. 

“I believe in giving back where I have had help and support. Over the years I have hosted weekend parties, done tandem skydives and done an Ultra challenge walking 100km in 2 days. My husband and I have agreed that while I am fit and stable we will do a big event every year. Prior to my diagnosis we had looked into events such as the Mongol rally but now with ongoing treatment every 3 weeks this was out of the question. So we started to look at shorter events based around Europe. The Motoscape rally to Prague was perfect. It coincided with Mark's birthday plus it was where we got engaged in 2005. Now to fix a fun car to do it in!

We were looking at all sorts of cars when a friend suggested a London taxi. Most of them are automatic which wouldn’t have been very good on the mountain passes. However, we found one which had a manual gearbox for sale in Bath. She was painted white, had rusty doors but made us smile. We called her Daisy after the film Driving Miss Daisy as there is no front passenger seat. Resulting in being chauffeur driven on a day to day basis. Unfortunately we found out that a very thin layer of underbody sealant hid some awful corrosion so we had to have extensive welding done on her before the rally. It was touch & go if she would be ready in time. Thankfully she finally passed her MOT a week before we set off.

The rally was great fun with about 40 teams from all over the UK. Some were raising money but also a great many simply doing it for fun. We could choose our own route, all meeting in the same hotel across France, Germany, Italy & Czech Republic. This resulted in forming some fantastic friendships.

On the first day Mark & I stormed through 5 countries: France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and into Germany. We were going great guns, however, a whining noise started and we realised that we had blown a gasket!  We checked the gearbox oil & needed to top it up with about 1.5lt, yikes!

From that day we had to alter the route to put her under less pressure. We were sad as we had wanted to do some of the high alpine passes, but that’s how it goes sometimes. We are used to changing plans. Unfortunately on day 5 we got stuck in traffic between Italy & Austria, this put extra pressure on her. Just after topping up the gearbox once more at a restplatz her gearbox finally gave up. She sounded like we had emptied a bag of spanners in the engine.

This was where friendships came to the fore. We were picked up by the organisers from the garage. Then the next day we hitched a ride to Prague and the end of the rally. We reached the final destination but without Daisy. We still celebrated this and Mark’s birthday. The winning team very kindly donated some of their cash prizes to our charities which meant so much. The following week where we had planned to catch up with friends en-route changed as we battled with the garage and recovery firms. This dampened things a bit, resulting in us flying back in time for my next round of treatments. We were lent a car by fellow team mates once we returned too - amazingly kind and generous offer.

The recovery firm has assured us that Daisy will be repatriated. We can then fix a reconditioned gearbox to have many more happy miles in her.”

Rachel and Mark have done so much for Make 2nds Count, I asked Rachel why it was important to her to have a charity who solely focused on secondary breast cancer.

“There are lots of charities which cover all cancers and those which cover all stages of breast cancer. However, breast cancer can be trivialised into being ‘the best cancer you can get’. Treat it and you are cured! Often you can feel we are the secret no one wants to discuss. Those who can’t and won’t be cured. Those that know behind the pink fluffy facade that there are many people dying every day from secondary breast cancer. The funding into new drugs and research is lacking. Often ladies are fighting for an initial diagnosis and then to be listened to for treatments and side effects. There are also those of us fighting to be understood that we are living with incurable cancer and trying to live our best life while we can. Having a charity that understands this, funds research & provides us with a safe space to discuss the ups and downs is vital to our emotional and mental health alongside the treatments for our physical health.” 

Secondary breast cancer kills around 1000 people a month in the UK, despite this secondary breast cancer gets around 5-9% of national breast cancer funding. Fundraising for Make 2nds Count helps us continue to give hope to those affected by secondary breast cancer. 

Thank you so much to Rachel & Mark, we are so inspired by your support.