Su steps out for Gaza's women

Su McClellan is pounding the streets of Bethlehem today to support vital care for women in Gaza.

The Harbury resident was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer early last year.

However Su, a regional manager at UK Christian charity Embrace the Middle East, knew the treatment she could expect in the UK would be in stark contrast to the care available to women in the Gaza strip.

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“Fortunately I’d caught it early enough for my chances of survival to be pretty good,” she said. “And I live in the UK where I receive the best of medical care – surgery followed by chemo, radio and hormone therapy.”

She is now fundraising by running the Palestine Half Marathon in Bethlehem today (April 1).

Su said: “I recently visited Embrace’s partner, the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City.

“I was taken to see the hospital’s mammography machine – one of only eight working machines in the whole of the strip, serving a population of 1.8 million.

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“A woman diagnosed with breast cancer in Gaza has less than a 50 per cent chance of still being alive in five years.

“This compares with an 87 per cent five-year survival rate in the UK.”

Su will be joined by her husband Craig and Jenny Baker, running on behalf of the Amos Trust and Helen Powell, a colleague at Embrace who has also been diagnosed with breast cancer recently.

Whilst Helen didn’t need chemotherapy or radiotherapy she did have radical surgery.

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Su, Helen and Craig are seeking to raise money through sponsorship for the Al Ahli hospital.

Su added: “However hard it will be, the memory of that visit to Gaza in 2014 will mean I won’t stop, until I cross the finish line.”

People can sponsor Su as she raises funds for Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City and find out how to take action to ask world leaders to act to see the removal of the blockade at www.embraceme.org/take-action-gaza

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