The water has been a big part of my recovery from cancer and I regularly come running and walking here. I was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour with no hope of cure and was told I only had 12 to 18 months to live. That was over three years ago. I'm still here, still fit and well and active and outliving my prognosis.
I live just a few hundred yards from the Grand Union Canal and Weston Turville Reservoir, and running along the towpath really helps me - through both the sense of wellbeing I get from being by the water and the physical fitness.
Wellbeing from the water
It's been proven that exercise brings improvement to cancer sufferers, in both wellbeing and prognosis. I started by walking and then running, and this year I set up the Brainstrust Brain Tumour Runners to encourage others to do the same. I also did the annual 11 mile Canal Walk on the beautiful Grand Union Canal with friends - and loads of others with and without brain tumours - to help raise awareness of vital brain tumour research. The walk is lovely and very easy, even though it's 11 miles, because it's all flat along the towpath between Stoke Hammond and Leighton Buzzard and back, with a pub stop at the half way point.