Shaunna Burke, a cancer and exercise researcher at the University of Leeds, is preparing to run the Everest Marathon this week, just over a year on from her incurable breast cancer diagnosis.
After dedicating her career to researching how exercise can be used in cancer treatment, Dr Burke was diagnosed with incurable, stage four breast cancer in 2024.
An Associate Professor in Exercise and Health Psychology, she has created a targeted diet and exercise plan to enhance the effectiveness of her treatments and has taken on an incredible dual challenge in Nepal this month.
Poignant climb
The first of those is to climb the 6,119-metre Lobuche East Peak in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support, which has been in progress over the last week.
And that trek featured a poignant moment when she reached a memorial to Dr Sean Egan.
For writing on Instagram, Dr Burke, who in 2005 became the second Canadian woman to summit Everest, explained: “Sean was more than just a professor at the @uottawaca where I was doing my PhD – he was a friend and a fellow climber. We were both climbing Everest that year, united by a shared passion and a profound respect for the mountain. I still vividly remember the call over the radio at Camp 2, the moment I learned Sean had suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away.
“It was the hardest moment of my climb – a stark and painful reminder of the unforgiving nature of high altitude, and the immense strain it puts on the human body.
“Sean’s death was a turning point for me. It reinforced something I had always believed: that I would rather die doing something I love than let fear hold me back. Processing his loss helped me come to terms with the finite nature of life. In many ways, mountaineering – like facing an incurable cancer diagnosis – is not only about survival. It’s about learning to thrive, live fully and authentically, through a deep acknowledgement of mortality.”
‘Something to hold onto’
The Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon has been held annually on 29 May since 2003 to commemorate the anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953.
The highest marathon in the world begins at the Mount Everest Base Camp (5,356m) on the Khumbu Glacier and heads 26.2 miles to Namche Bazar, the “Sherpa capital” at 3,440m.
Dr Burke, who lives in Ilkley in Yorkshire, said: “I was scheduled to do the Everest Marathon last year, but everything was put on hold as my life was disrupted in ways I never imagined with the diagnosis. My liver surgeon encouraged me to keep planning – to keep looking ahead, so I deferred my race entry to this year, and that decision gave me something to hold onto. It kept me going throughout my treatments.
“Each time I had treatment, I ran from my house to the chemotherapy bus and parked my car further away from St James’s Hospital so I could run three miles to radiotherapy.
“Staying active helped me to tolerate my treatment – I experienced few side effects, and it also helped me psychologically.
“The endorphin release gave me a much-needed boost and being in nature reminded me of life beyond the hospital walls. Although it felt surreal to be applying learnings from my research on prehabilitation to my own life, it gave me proof that I could still be fit and strong.”
Her treatment has involved four and a half months of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, liver surgery, and three weeks of radiotherapy – delivered by Airedale Hospital and the Leeds Cancer Centre at St James’s Hospital, where Dr Burke saw the familiar faces of research colleagues in the radiotherapy wing. She is now taking maintenance therapy medication to control the cancer.
Prehabilitation strategy
As a researcher in the School of Biomedical Sciences at Leeds, Dr Burke’s work focuses on prehabilitation and rehabilitation strategies designed to support patients before, during and after cancer treatment. This involves enhancing patients’ fitness levels both before and after surgery, enabling their bodies to better withstand the physical demands of treatment.
When asked how her diagnosis changed her perspective on her research, she said: “I thought I understood the participants in my research and what they were living through, but I didn’t. Now I completely understand.
“Moving forward, I would like to research new areas. Prehabilitation primarily focuses on getting patients fit for surgery, and the conversation tends to stop there. But what happens when patients face prolonged and multiple surgeries or treatments? This requires tailored support and a deep understanding of individual needs, so patients can maintain healthy lifestyles and preserve strength, function, and overall well-being throughout their treatments and beyond.”
Dr Burke’s projects have been supported by funders including Macmillan, Yorkshire Cancer Research and Cancer Research UK and if you would like to donate you can do so on her JustGiving page.
