A mum who has been diagnosed with incurable cancer has completed two marathons while undergoing chemotherapy.

Nicola Berry, 33, from Carlisle, is battling cancer for the second time.

She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016. She overcame this in 2017 only to be told in July last year that the breast cancer was back, this time spreading to her liver. It is incurable.

However, despite undergoing treatment, this hasn’t stopped the determined runner from completing two marathons - saying if she can manage it, anyone can.

Nicola explained: “When I was diagnosed the second time round they told me it was incurable, which is quite hard at 33.

"They put me on these brand new tablets that had only been out for two weeks before I got them. They had been trialled.”

Nicola takes the tablets twice a day for three weeks and then has one week off. All while travelling to Newcastle every month for injections and receiving injections off her own GP.

But this hasn’t dampened her determination and will to carry on with life.

On Sunday, October 4, Nicola and her friend Tracey Caddle completed the Virtual Edinburgh Marathon and Virtual London Marathon respectively. The 26.2-mile challenge was special for both fundraisers as they raised money in aid of Carlisle's Eden Valley Hospice.

Mr Berry chose the hospice as she’s come to the realisation that one day she will need their services, and she wanted to do it for something local.

She previously ran the London Marathon in 2019, despite knowing her cancer was back, and since has always lived her life to the full.

“I’ve always run," she said. "I trained for the London Marathon 2019. I’d done that through Breast Cancer Now, being able to get a place through them.

“It wasn’t until lockdown started that I entered the Virtual Edinburgh Marathon and Tracey was also doing the Virtual London Marathon so we decided to do both.

“I have a husband [James] and two boys [Rhys and Riley] aged nine and six. I went to look round Eden Valley Hospice because I’d never been and it’s so I have a familiar setting.

“There will come a day when I need it, I’m not in denial about that, but [I want to support it] because they offer so much more than just going there for end-of-life care.

“It’s not as miserable as you might think. They offer day care and also offer bereavement services for children.”

Nicola realises that just because the chemotherapy tablets she is taking don’t have a major effect on her, she is one of the lucky ones.

“Although they don’t have any effect on me it doesn’t mean to say they won’t have an effect on anyone else,” she admitted.

“However, with this pandemic people are feeling low, so if I can go out and run 26-miles I’m sure people can go for a walk around the block to help clear their head.”

When Nicola’s cancer came back a second time, it had spread to her liver and she was told it was incurable.

She continued: “It came back in the breast and it also came back in the liver.

“When people say you have cancer in the liver, it’s not liver cancer, it’s breast cancer cells that have travelled through my lymphatic system and planted themselves in my liver.

“But the cancer in my breast has actually gone, so that must be the chemotherapy tablets that have made that happen.

“I am basically living with cancer.”

And determined to keep making the most of life, Mrs Berry has already entered to run the London Marathon next.

However, conscious of the fact that she knows she cannot plan too far in advance, she has decided not to enter through a charity.

To donate to Nicola's Justgiving page and support Eden Valley Hospice, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/nicberry