Campaign after 'fit and healthy' mum dies of cancer

The family of a Kent mother who died of a cancer ten weeks after being diagnosed are raising money and awareness in her honour.

In March, Katya Batchelor, who lived in Tonbridge, climbed Machu Picchu in Peru with husband Duncan.

But just 10 weeks later, she died of bowel cancer at the age of 49.

Her husband and two children have since raised more than £100,000 in her honour.

A team of about 20 friends and family will be running the Tonbridge Half Marathon on Sunday to raise money for Cancer Research UK (CRUK).

Feeling fit and healthy, Ms Batchelor had spent 2023 chasing the Northern Lights in the Arctic Circle, learning to scuba dive and travelling with her family – all while holding down a job as a lawyer.

After her return from Peru, she began to feel unwell and tests revealed she had bowel cancer, which had already progressed.

She died 10 weeks later.

Mr Batchelor said the severity and suddenness of her illness had left her family in shock.

“Katya was perfectly fit and healthy – annoyingly healthy,” he said.

"She had an excellent diet. She had no bad habits. She exercised – she did everything right."

He added: “She would want us to get the message out there that bowel cancer doesn’t just affect older people – it can happen to younger people too.”

Determined to honour her, Mr Batchelor and the couple’s two children, Anna and Sasha, have been fundraising for CRUK and raising awareness about the cancer which unexpectedly took Ms Batchelor.

Mr Batchelor, 50, also a lawyer, said: “Katya was a very special, very accomplished, cultured and kind person. She didn’t want to die at 49 – she had so much more life to look forward to."

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