A lecturer from the University of Sunderland who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 35 has completed a challenge of a lifetime to help beat the disease.
Two years on since her diagnosis, Rachel Makin was given the all clear and has now trekked across the Indian Himalayas to raise money for cancer-awareness charity Coppafeel!
Alongside 119 other trekkers, including presenters Emma Willis and Angela Scanlon, Olympic rowing champion Erin Kennedy MBE and businesswoman and entrepreneur Sara Davies MBE, Rachel went on to climb peaks as high as 1,300m above sea level in the name of early breast cancer detection.
Rachel said: “It was the most incredible and challenging thing I’ve done in my life. Most of us on the trek have been affected by breast cancer ourselves or were doing it for a family member, so there was a lot of emotion.
“Not only are you faced with this challenge of climbing these mountains for four days solid, ten hours every day, but we were all talking about what we’ve been through. It’s very emotional, but almost like therapy.
“The community that you get from something like this, and the friendships have been incredible.”
Over the four days, Rachel and her team walked over 35 hours at heights thousands of metres above sea level, camping out every night till they reached their goal.
Rachel said: “On the third day, we climbed up and up and up for about five hours to the top where lunch was going to be.
“At the top, there was just a huge outpouring of emotion from everyone. We had a tough day on day two and then day three we had these amazing views. I think everybody just had a realisation of what we have achieved there.
“Most of us have been through surgeries and cancer treatments and we’ve trained hard to come on this trek. So, to be at the top of the mountain and you see this huge valley in front of you – it was just indescribable. I won’t forget the top of that mountain.”
This Coppatrek has raised over £727,000 to help educate and encourage young people to catch breast cancer early, with Rachel raising over £6,000 herself.
“People are so generous, it’s been so unbelievable – I don’t know what else to say but thank you to everyone who donated,” Rachel added.
“The whole point of these treks is to raise money and awareness for Coppafeel! It’s really powerful that we were there because of Coppafeel! because of their message and now we’re raising money for it.
“It’s only through awareness, through self-checking, through getting to know the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, getting to know what’s normal for you so that when you find something that’s not normal, you know that you need to go get that checked out.”
You can still donate to Rachel’s fundraiser for Coppafeel! on her Just Giving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/rachel-makin-himalayas?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Frachel-makin-himalayas&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share
To find out more about CoppaFeel! head to www.coppafeel.org