'I'm still here' (From Witney Gazette)

'I'm still here'

8:36am Thursday 24th January 2008 in Witney By Debbie Waite

FORMER Radio Oxford presenter Alison Booker has spoken about her fight against cancer to encourage runners and walkers to take part in this year's Race for Life.

Mrs Booker, 43, learned she was suffering from inoperable cancer in 2006 and was given only two years to live.

Three years earlier, she had beaten breast cancer, but the disease returned and is now in her lungs.

Race for Life 2008 was launched this week and about 9,500 women are expected to take part in events in the University Parks in Oxford and at Heythrop Park, near Enstone, this summer, raising more than £800,000 for cancer research.

Mrs Booker, of Charlton Heights, near Wantage, said her tumours were not getting any bigger and, in her own words, she was "alive and very much kicking".

She said: "It comes as a surprise to people, I know, when they learn I'm not dead yet.

"Sometimes it's even a bit embarrassing when I speak to people and they say: 'How are you?' and I say: 'Actually, I'm really well!' "But, seriously though, I do feel very lucky to still be here."

Mrs Booker retired from the BBC last January after 12 years with Radio Oxford.

She said: "It was very tough. All of a sudden, my work, which I loved, was gone and I felt useless.

"The cancer makes me very breathless and tired, and even housework and cooking seemed a struggle. But largely thanks to my husband Andrew and my children Joanne and Douglas, I realised I still had a lot to do and I wasn't completely useless!

"Now I love being at home and I'm very busy. Every day is full.

"As well as helping out with Andrew's Internet wine business, www.surf4wine.co.uk, which is thriving, I am writing a celebrity joke book to raise money for the Sobell House hospice."

She also finds her time at Sobell House a joy.

"I go there once a week and love it," she said. "I have free acupuncture, free art and music therapy and I am even learning to play the guitar.

"Plus I get a free lunch and I have a bloody good laugh with the other patients. Once every couple of months, I even take in a bottle of bubbly and we toast being there for another two months."

For the past three years, she has been taking hormonal drugs to try to slow down the advance of her cancer. She has an injection into an implant in her stomach every three months, and she takes a single tablet each day.

While her lung tumours are not growing, a recent scan showed there is an anomaly in her brain.

She said: "The doctors don't seem to be that worried about it, but they are keeping an eye on it.

"The doctors tell me I am here partly because of PMA - Positive Mental Attitude.

"And I believe that carrying on as normally as possible helps you fight the cancer.

"But it's also because of the excellent cancer treatment here in Oxfordshire."

RACE FOR LIFE FACTFILE

RACE for Life is Cancer Research UK's flagship event and has grown to become the UK's largest women-only charity fundraiser. It is held between May and July.

Last year, more than 665,000 women took part nationwide by walking, jogging and running 5km courses - raising £40m. It started in 1994 for the charity's work, which includes the scientists, doctors and nurses who work to find new treatments. So far, £200m has been raised. There are events in Oxford - two on Saturday, June 7, and one on Sunday, June 8, in the University Parks - and one in Heythrop Park, near Enstone, on Sunday, June 22. For details log on to www.raceforlife.org