The Maggie’s Centre at Charing Cross Hospital was packed on Wednesday night for the successful launch of Jenny Baker’s book, Run for Your Life. Members of the Ealing Eagles, her running club, were there along with family, friends, work colleagues and several women who went through treatment for breast cancer at the same time. Many of the evening’s guests feature in the book because they are part of Jenny’s story.

Bernie Byrne, the centre manager welcomed everyone to Maggie’s and poet Harry Baker, Jenny’s son, performed some poems he’d written for the event. Jenny said, "I used to get changed and eat lunch here at Maggie’s after running to my chemotherapy appointments, and it’s great to be back celebrating the book." The event raised nearly £300 for Maggie’s through book sales and donations.

Thanks to Jonny Baker for the photograph.

Run for Your Life is Jenny's inspirational story about how running transformed her experience of breast cancer, helping her to rewrite the story of what was happening to her. In it, you will discover how Jenny became a runner, why running makes you stronger in so many ways and how those runs to chemo became a source of life and hope:

• Jenny Baker had just had her best year ever of running – PBs at every distance and a Good for Age entry into the following year’s London Marathon. She was planning to run five marathons to celebrate her 50th birthday, only to see all that start to unravel when she found a lump in her breast. She knew that one in eight women will get breast cancer, but it was a huge shock to discover that she was the one.
• Feeling betrayed by her body and frightened about the future, her instinct was to keep running as long as she could. In the turmoil of coming to terms with her diagnosis, a golden moment was discovering that her oncologist was a marathon runner too. With his encouragement, she set herself the challenge of running to all her chemotherapy sessions, seven miles along the river to Charing Cross Hospital.
• Jenny had already discovered huge benefits from over 15 years of running – mental and physical health, the opportunity to achieve new goals, and a community to belong to. Now running became her secret weapon for coping with her cancer treatment, and getting her life back on track once it was all over.

Click here for more information, or to read a sample from Run for Your Life.