After a year of punishing cancer treatment, Dr Yani Berdeni could barely walk. But two and a half years on from his all clear and he is ready to take on the 26.2-mile course.
The University of Bristol engineering maths lecturer was 30 years old when a persistent cough was diagnosed as lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that affects the immune system. The diagnosis came just a few days before Christmas 2019.
Four rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy followed, and the prognosis looked bright.
But in summer 2020 new and “excruciating” back pain turned out to be a large cancerous tumour squeezing his spine.
“The whole experience was surreal, you just don’t expect it at 30. But finding out about the stage 4 cancer was the hardest thing,” Yani said.
“I needed a stem cell transplant and was told it only had a 50% success rate. They took my stem cells and then gave me so much chemo that I would’ve died, but then they injected the cells back into my blood to regrow the bone marrow.”
The treatment made Yani so weak that a cold could have killed him. With Covid still raging, his partner, Ruby Hodgson, would read him books via video call.
In July 2021, Yani was given the all clear. Not long afterwards he was made a lecturer at the University of Bristol, where he had been studying and working since 2012.
Yani was a keen runner before his diagnosis, and even ran the London Marathon in 2013. He was heading toward an impressive sub-three hour time when he collapsed 800metres from the end.
“When I came round I thought I was in Bradford where I grew up,” he laughed.
“So, yeah, I’ve got unfinished business at the London Marathon!”
Yani, now 34, is raising money for the “amazing” blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan, which runs a stem cell donor register and carries out research into the disease.
“After the treatment I could barely walk,” Yani said. “I was 10kg heavier because of bloating from the treatment and I would jog for 500metres and be exhausted. I just wanted to get back to feeling healthy and normal again.”
Yani was helped back into running by 5k Your Way, an inclusive running community that helps those impacted by cancer
Waiting on the finish line on April 21 will be Ruby and other friends and family.
“It will be quite emotional and a bit overwhelming,” Yani said. “I really just want to make it round and raise money for Anthony Nolan.
“They need donors under 30 and you really could save someone’s life. If my cancer came back, I would need to use someone else’s stem cells.”
You can donate via Yani’s JustGiving page.