Melksham woman marks five years since cancer diagnosis with gym fundraiser

A Melksham woman has marked five years since her cancer diagnosis by organising a gym-based fundraiser, where she and fellow gym members cycled and rowed to raise funds for the Anthony Nolan charity. 

Lisa Coldwell and her gym community at Inviktus fitness studio collectively cycled 446.2km and rowed 93.4km, raising £750.

Lisa was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) in November 2019 and has spent years recovering. To mark five years since the diagnosis, she and her friend Hattie Lofthouse gathered support from their gym members to run two exercise bikes and a rowing machine continuously from 8am to 4pm.

They chose to raise funds for Anthony Nolan, the UK charity which works in the areas of leukaemia and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation after Lisa had less than a 7% chance of survival and needed a stem cell transplant to save her life. 

However, across the world there were no adult stem cells that were a match. “Luckily, they found some matching cells in an umbilical cord,” explained Lisa. “But after I was given them, my husband and I had to move into a flat in Bristol. It was when the Covid lockdown happened in March 2020, so we had to live apart from our children for 12 and a half weeks and I could not go out because I needed to self-isolate. I then moved back home in June and I did not go back to work for 12 months.”

Five years on from her diagnosis, Lisa said she was determined to “give cancer the middle finger” by organising and taking part in the fundraiser for Anthony Nolan. “We wanted to mark the five years since my diagnosis by helping the charity to continue their work so other people can win their fight against cancer,” said Lisa.

“Eighteen people swapped in and out of the event throughout the day, plus others came along with treats to support us. Hattie and I were there all day; we were lucky at one point if we had more than 20 minutes of rest per hour,” she said. “It was a long day, but it was brilliant and we had a lot of fun for a really good cause.

“We were both really emotional at the end of it. The physical side of things never really came into it but we were both really, really proud and grateful to everybody who came along.”

Originally setting out to raise £160, the team smashed their target, raising enough money to fund 18 stem cell samples.

“It costs the charity around £40 to process each sample,” explained Lisa. “Raising enough for 18 samples to be processed is amazing. It is not a case that now 18 people can be helped; each person’s stem cells could potentially help multiple people if they match. Raising £750 is amazing.”

In March next year, Lisa is due to be given the all-clear and said that exercise and being part of the gym community has boosted her mental health during her recovery.

“I have always tried to stay healthy and I joined Inviktus in August 2021. I decided that I wanted to really give cancer the middle finger and keep really fit in case something like this ever happens again. 

“The gym community is amazing. Everyone is really supportive and it is nice to go and be among friends and look after myself at the same time.”

Following the success of this fundraiser, the team plans to do more in the future. “We are already talking about what else we could do and what other charities are close to people’s hearts. This definitely isn’t the only one we will do,” said Lisa.