TWO AND a half years ago Wokingham resident Dalia Ismail was diagnosed with breast cancer.
This year, despite having undergone surgery and cancer treatment, she climbed the Himalayas with a team of other cancer surviving fundraisers – and has helped raise a huge amount of money for Coppafeel.
Receiving her diagnosis in her early 30s, Dalia was years younger than most breast cancer patients, and says herself that she was one of a large number of young people unaware that cancer doesn’t only affect older patients.
Since her diagnosis she has campaigned, advocated and fundraised to support research and education of the disease.
And this year she has pushed herself to the limits in support of Coppafeel, a charity on a mission to stamp out late diagnosis of breast cancer by making sure that young people are regularly checking their breasts and chests, and getting to know their bodies in order to have the confidence to see a GP if something doesn’t feel normal.
With Coppatrek, a fundraising offshoot of Coppafeel, Dalia had the opportunity to fly to India as part of a group of 120 trekkers eager to take on the challenging ascents and descents of the Himalayas.
Over five days, walking in staggered groups of around 30, they covered 100km, and between them have now raised more than £745,000.
The group target was £450,000,” said Dalia, “but we’ve exceeded this and raised the most the organisation has ever known.
“It was amazing but very challenging.
“Just getting there was a struggle as I get travel sick, and we had a long flight followed by a long train journey, with hours in a coach.
“Then there were the 5am wake-up calls, 10 hour treks, and some big climbs.”
And if this doesn’t sound challenge enough, last year Dalia says she was struggling to walk.
“At the beginning of last year I was having a lot of back and hip pain every day, and I realised I was beginning to accept it.
“But I knew I didn’t want this to be my new normal so when the opportunity came up I decided to sign up to the Himalayan trek.
“It was a crazy target, I know, but I tend to deal with things by setting myself a big project.
“I said to myself, ‘I’ll do this because I have to so, I’d better get myself ready.’
“I had a lot of physio, and did a lot of exercise – and, yes, I’ve done it.
“I went from struggling to walk last year, to climbing the Himalayas this one.”
Dalia says the trek has given her back faith in her body that she can do these things.
“It has been very affirming – it takes a lot of work, but now I know I can get there.
“Persisting, setting a target, dreaming big and putting in the work, you can do what you want no matter the circumstances.”
A highlight of the trip for Dalia was a mountain top lunch after a seven hour ascent.
“The view was stunning, paragliders were in the sky, and there we were, all of us eating freshly made curries and roti bread, overlooking the Himalayas,” she said.
“Normally lunch was a 10 minute break, but on this day we had a little longer to take stock of what we had just done.”
Dalia was also enchanted by the mix of terrain, and the culture.
“On another day we went through the jungle, passing through forest, by waterfalls, and then past very green mountain scenes,” she said.
“One of our guides had been born in a monastery, so they let us go inside where the monks were singing and chanting – it was a very powerful experience.
“And one night we were woken by really loud barking and grunting noises, but it turned out just to be a wild boar circling our tent.”
Dalia has so far made £7,000 for Coppafeel through her Himalayan Challenge, and is now getting ready for her next event.
She is passionate about the charity’s aims, and keen to support its work.
But there have been personal gains for her too.
“I’d love us as a group to reach £750,000,” she said.
“The fundraising and education is so important,” she said, “but I’ve benefitted from this trip personally too.
“I now have confidence in my body to do hard things.
“My body’s taken a lot over the past two and a half years, and you can lose confidence following major illness, with treatment, and the side effects.
“I wasn’t sure it could do this.”
Dalia would like to thank her local community and businesses for their support, and has just learned that she has a place on an alumni trek to Iceland next July.
“After a short rest, the fundraising and awareness raising continues,” she said.
“People don’t realise that cancer can affect anyone and I’m living proof of that, but the sooner you detect something unusual the better.”
For information, and to support Dalia’s Iclandic fundraising effort, people can visit: coppafeel.org and bit.ly/daliatreks
