BBC presenter Clare Runacres has revealed her emotional response to a potential breakthrough in skin cancer treatment, confessing she welled up upon hearing the news. The 52 year old was diagnosed with stage-two melanoma at just 20 and, despite undergoing surgery to remove the tumour, was told there were no treatments available to prevent it from spreading.
Years later, the disease made an unwelcome return leading to further surgical intervention. Upon learning of the University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s (UCLH) promising vaccine trials that could potentially enhance survival rates and prevent the re-emergence of the condition, Clare admitted to shedding tears of hope.
She tweeted: “Living in the shadow of cancer is hard. But days like today give me such hope. I read this article with tears in my eyes. I have spent so long trying to ward off the spread of my cancer, leading a quiet and careful life, balancing diet, exercise, sleep and stress, striving to live positively.”
She expressed her heartfelt thanks: “I approach each day with gratitude and a glad heart knowing I’m one of the lucky ones, having survived so long. Seeing more and more promising options being developed for melanoma is amazing. Medical researchers and doctors are my absolute heroes.”
“Thank you to those of you who strive every day to make this world a better place through the advancement of medicine. You are a lifeline to so many people.”, reports the Mirror.
Clare, alongside her husband Mike, celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary last year, marking the occasion with their three children.
Reflecting on her wedding day amidst the shadow of cancer, she shared: “The wedding was a beautiful day, full of love and tears. Surrounded by our closest friends, we put our fears aside and danced until dawn. Even now I can’t look at the photos without feeling that raw emotion.”
She recounted the early days of her marriage, saying: “In our first years of marriage, we lived in the moment. We didn’t know what the future held. It was liberating. We had no expectations of life, and so everything we did felt like an achievement.”
Notably, she revealed that while planning her wedding, she was also ‘planning for her funeral’.
In her poignant piece for MailOnline, she reflected: “From then on, I measured out my wellness on milestones that my children made. The milestones I’ve seen have been magical.”
