Oldham woman takes on fell challenge after cancer all-clear

A woman who has recovered from cancer five times is taking on a series of tough challenges as she celebrates more than a year of being free of the disease.

Natalie Yates-Bolton, from Oldham, has completed six marathons, three ultramarathons and three triathlons since she was first diagnosed aged 22.

"The first time it was summer and everything was wonderful," she says.

"Then I found a little lump on my collarbone that I thought I better get checked out. I didn't think it would be anything and then it turned out to be Hodgkin lymphoma.

"I thought that would be it and then 14 years later, by which time I'd met my husband and family and settled down, I started to feel unwell and it turns out that the lymphoma had come back."

Since then Natalie has also had breast cancer three times, enduring 11 operations, 30 sessions of chemotherapy and more than 55 rounds of radiotherapy.

"You think I'd expect it because it keeps happening but it's still a shock and a surprise every time," Natalie told BBC News.

"I guess I'm an eternal optimist. I wouldn't recommend it," she says, laughing.

"But I think there are some positives in that it certainly teaches you to appreciate everything about life."

Over the years she has put that optimism to good use by completing a series of gruelling challenges.

Now aged 57, her latest challenge is to try to hike every Wainwright in England - known locally as fells.

Wainwrights are the 214 English peaks described in Alfred Wainwright's seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells.

She says the support of friends and family throughout has been crucial.

"My friends that I run with have been amazing," she says.

"I remember one time I nearly passed out and they had to literally hold me up."

She hopes seeing what she has achieved could encourage others to push themselves to see what they are capable of.

"I think you can surprise yourself," she says.

"There's probably some potential there you didn't know you had."

Natalie has now been told she is cancer free thanks to a targeted drug called palbociclib.

The drug - which comes as a tablet - targets a specific pathway within cancer cells to stop them growing.

It is taken alongside hormone therapies and usually has fewer side effects than other treatments like chemotherapy.

Dr Vanessa Clay, a consultant oncologist at the Christie Hospital in Manchester where Natalie was treated, says some of the newer treatments can allow patients to live a more normal life.

"These therapies are not as toxic as what we are used to - people can go back to work, they can run marathons if that's what they want to do.

"Exercise has been shown in many studies to improve responses to treatment and improve how patients feel - what Natalie is doing is fantastic."

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