When Jo Hodkinson was diagnosed with secondary cancer in her bones her biggest fear wasn’t dying, it was the thought that she may never walk her pug dog Elvis again.

The pair, from Mossley, had always walked for miles every week, when one day Jo realised that she was adapting the route they took due to a niggling pain in her leg that wouldn’t go away.

After visiting her doctor to find out what was wrong, the 48-year-old was given the devastating diagnosis that the breast cancer she had been treated for 10 years ago had returned in her hip, thigh and pelvic bones, and it was uncurable.

Jo said, “It was pretty much a decade to the day since I had finished my treatment for breast cancer. In spring 2011 I had a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy. I had taken tamoxifen for a decade and felt like I’d made it. But you couldn’t write it, the timing was unreal. 

“I just felt numb when I was told that the pain in my leg was cancer. I couldn’t believe it because it didn’t even hurt that much at the time, but my bones were literally crumbling, and it was in my lymph nodes. I was told I needed a major operation and I’d be in a wheelchair for a little while at least. I felt like my life was over if I couldn’t walk Elvis again.”

In May 2021, Jo, an accountant was admitted for surgery at The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, in Birmingham and due to COVID-19 restrictions at the time she couldn’t have any visitors.

It was around the same time when she was warned that her mobility would be compromised following the surgery she required, and it was likely she would always walk with a limp.

The operation involved a proximal femoral endoprosthetic replacement - which replaces the hip joint and a proportion of the top end of the femur (thigh bone), followed by months of physiotherapy and targeted therapy to target the remaining tumours that couldn’t be removed with surgery.

Jo added, “The surgery was horrific and being totally alone made it even harder to come to terms with the diagnosis. But my lovely old school friends, some that I’m not even in touch with anymore, sent me a gift for every day I was in hospital, it was incredible.

“When I came home, I started physio straight away, I had to learn to walk again and try to get mobile. But I just knew it wasn’t enough and I didn’t have anywhere near enough muscle strength to walk Elvis, so I got a personal trainer. 

“Despite what I’d been told, I was determined that we would go on our walks again, I just had to find a way of getting stronger again. Elvis was my biggest motivation, he helped me so much.”

Remarkably, after a gruelling six months of training, Jo and Elvis were back doing their favourite 2.7 mile walk around their local reservoir, something Jo feared wouldn’t ever be possible again.

Jo said, “I am so happy that we can do our walks again now, I cried the very first time we went the whole way around the reservoir. We were told that our favourite walk would be a struggle to achieve at all and now we are doing it regularly. And while I won’t be able to go far or fast, I’m delighted with how far we’ve come.”

This weekend Jo will be Cancer Research UK’s VIP guest of honour when she will sound the starter horn as she takes part in the Race for Life 5k event at Heaton Park with Elvis by her side.

While Jo’s cancer cannot be cured, she is now on her tenth cycle of targeted therapy, she added: “The remaining tumours are shrinking with each cycle of therapy, last time I had a scan in March they said they were too small to measure, and I’ll just stay on these tablets until they don’t work anymore.

“I feel an urgency to do fun things while I am feeling good. I have just got back from a three-week road trip to Texus with my friend Aimee, she was the first person I told that I had cancer. And now I am really looking forward to doing Race for Life with Elvis, he’ll love it.”

“I feel good at the moment, so I am doing as much as a can while I am feeling so well. It’s thanks to research that I am where I am today, so join me and sign up for Race For Life and we can try and beat cancer together.”

You can see more on Jo's story here:

Read more from the Tameside Reporter

Click here for more of the latest news

Click here to read the latest edition of the paper online

Click here to find out where you can pick up a copy of the paper