Please note: This article includes discussion of cancer, which some readers may find upsetting.
A keen runner has shared how a drop in her pace and breathing problems were first put down to asthma, before she later discovered she had stage four lung cancer.
Vanessa Kendall, from Yorkshire, regularly ran multiple times a week. But during the summer of 2024 she began to realise her usual runs were becoming increasingly challenging and her performances were slipping.
Later that year, in December, her whole family came down with the flu. While everyone else recovered, Vanessa found she was taking noticeably longer to bounce back.
At first she didn’t think it was anything to worry about and tried to carry on as normal. However, by February 2025 she was struggling with intense, ongoing coughing—so much so that she couldn’t get through a work call—so she booked an appointment with her GP.
The mum-of-two was diagnosed with asthma and given an inhaler, which appeared to help initially.
But after chatting with a friend while out running in June, Vanessa decided to push for further checks and asked her GP for a chest X-ray. The scan revealed something far more serious.
Vanessa was diagnosed with stage four metastatic cancer.
She described the news as a ‘massive shock’, particularly because she had continued to feel fit and active not long before the diagnosis.
She told Kennedy News:
“”I did a half marathon in October before I was diagnosed and would run every Wednesday after work with a work running club.
“In the May school holidays we did one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks with my youngest son, we did Ingleborough, so still fit and active so it was a massive, massive shock getting the diagnosis.”
Stage four is the most advanced stage of cancer. The term metastatic means it has spread to other parts of the body, rather than remaining only where it first developed.
In Vanessa’s case, the disease had moved from her lungs to her liver, spine, lymph nodes, kidneys and brain.
Following her diagnosis, Vanessa began chemotherapy, a treatment that uses medication to try to control or eliminate cancer.
However, she later received more devastating news. In January earlier this year, CT scans showed the cancer had progressed further, with new tumors identified in her liver, lungs and brain.
Vanessa has said her lung cancer is ‘one of the rarest types’, describing it as ‘a complete freak, rare, genetic mutation’.
She is now fundraising to pursue private care, saying her ‘treatment options are limited’ because the form of cancer she has is so uncommon.
The GoFundMe explains:
“Having discussed the remaining options with oncologists, NHS & privately, we are now looking at the best treatment option available in the UK, an immunotherapy drug (TKI) for Vanessa which currently is not funded by the NHS for the Exon 20 mutation.”
It also states her current health insurance ‘will not cover the cost of treatment’, and that the fundraiser aims to ‘try and alleviate some of the costs and financial burden required to receive this medication’.
The GoFundMe adds:
“Vanessa will need to have treatment every week for the first four weeks, then every other week after that, but will also need to cover the cost of bloods and scans etc,” it adds. “There are also future potential opportunities for additional treatments not yet approved or available on the NHS or through private healthcare providers to become available in the fulness of time.”
Looking back on the experience, Vanessa said the diagnosis left her feeling ‘totally lost and isolated’ as she tried to come to terms with it.
“It was hugely traumatic,” she added.
Despite everything, Vanessa said she has been ‘absolutely overwhelmed’ by the ‘unbelievable’ support the fundraiser has received so far. You can donate to the GoFundMe here.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.