Aylesbury Vale brain tumour survivor completes marathon in under four hours

A woman from Aylesbury Vale ran the Manchester Marathon in under four hours just years after receiving life-saving surgery on a brain tumour.

Flora Bouchier, a Nottingham University graduate from Thornborough, completed the adidas Manchester Marathon on Sunday (16 April) in aid of Brain Tumour Research, a charity she has supported since being diagnosed with a grade 1 glioneuronal in April 2016.

She dealt with post-operative depression after having surgery as a teenager, but credited playing sport at university as a key factor in the improvement of her welfare.

Flora, 23, who moved to West Didsbury, Manchester, after obtaining a master’s degree last year, said: “I’m very happy with my time of three hours 58 minutes. I signed up for a half-marathon three weeks before and got 1:52:30, so I started thinking sub four might be possible, and, in the end, decided to go for it.

“I managed 1:55 for the first half but started feeling queasy after 20 miles because I hadn’t drunk enough water. I did a bit of maths and worked out how much time I had left and how much I could afford to slow down. When I was three miles from the finish, I knew I could comfortably achieve sub-four hours and was able to enjoy the last couple of miles.

“I think I strained my quad, though, because I was running in pain with eight miles to go and I can’t walk downstairs at the moment – I have to hop one step at a time.”

Post-operative depression had a severe impact on her life up until when she went to university, but the chemical engineer has now made a full recovery with no lasting effects.

She added: “When I was ill, I didn’t exercise for a long time. I really struggled to get out of bed and was quite unhappy with myself. I put on lots of weight because I was so inactive, but now I’m feeling fitter than ever, loving life and happy to be able to run around.

“I definitely want to keep running because I really enjoy being active and am super fit at the moment, but I think I’d rather run more as a hobby and do it when I want to, rather than because I have to.

“It’s a bit of a lifestyle change training for a marathon. I was putting so much of my time into it and having to eat so much because I was constantly hungry. I was also having to be really strict with my sleep because getting less than eight hours and having to do a long run isn’t fun.”

Flora, who enjoyed a brownie and a beer at the finish line, also smashed her fundraising target, with donations exceeding the £2,740 it costs to fund a day of research at one of the charity’s four Centres of Excellence.

She said: “That’s amazing because I wanted to do it to help those who are maybe not as fortunate as me; people with poorer prognoses, or without adequate treatment options.”

Her fundraising page can be found online here.