A READING resident who was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year has taken the top spot in a town-wide travel challenge.
Maria Glenister was announced as the top scoring individual in Beat The Street 2023, which sees participants walking, wheeling, or cycling to spots around town to collect points.
The project is designed to encourage active travel for participants and help improve their physical and mental health.
For Ms Glenister, it provided a much needed focus following her diagnosis back in February, as well as helping her to raise more than £1,000 for thyroid cancer trust Butterfly.
Ms Glenister explained: “I’d heard about Beat The Street back in around 2015, and joined in on one while I was working as a teacher.
“But in February this year, I received a diagnosis of thyroid cancer, then underwent surgery followed by radiation therapy in about June.”
She explained that it can affect the voice, which was especially worrying as she is both a vocalist and a teacher.
She performs as part of three musical groups, including Reading favourites Limpopo Groove and Readiophonics.
She had to step back from those roles, as her cancer treatments had a profound affect on her voice.
“Thankfully, nothing seems to be paralysed, but the stuff that I normally do, singing and teaching, took a huge knock.
“Once I’d had time to start to recover physically, though I’m still getting there, I didn’t know why I wasn’t starting to feel normal again.”
The thyroid, located at the front of the throat, produces hormones which regulate body temperature, metabolism, development, and growth, and contributes to controlling digestion, heart regulation, and brain and muscle development.
Following treatment, Maria said she has been experiencing significant fatigue as well as feelings of extreme cold, and found it difficult to walk more than 100 metres without tiring.
“It’s difficult to deal with cancer of any kind– I got through the really tough stuff, which gives you a sense of focus.
“But then you’re left in a bit of a limbo afterwards– I looked okay, my scars had healed, so I was wondering why I wasn’t back to normal.
“Somebody mentioned at a gig that I wasn’t singing, and they felt that my wings had been clipped, which felt like they really understood.”
Part of this feeling, she explained, was through her inability to perform, which supports her mental health, her fatigue, and the subsequent impact on her social life.
However Maria is also a gamer, with a particular enjoyment of puzzle games on her Xbox.
As such, the ‘gamification’ of Beat The Street– the structure of the point-scoring through active travel– was something she felt made a huge difference to her health.
“I’m a gamer, so if you gamify exercise, that’s a sure-fire way to get me out– I couldn’t walk 100 metres without needing to go home.
“So I decided I would take part in Beat The Street, just to give me some purpose at the least for a month or so.
“And just two days in I realised I was socialising more, talking to everyone on the way.”
She explained that with thyroid cancer, while it is highly treatable in most cases, there is no definite ‘all-clear’ as it can return even after treatment.
“So not being able to feel like you’ve stepped past it made me feel like I needed something to mark that.
“But I still wanted to do more, so I contacted Butterfly and started fundraising– and actually talking about why I was doing it.”
She created a t-shirt which listed the names of those who had donated to her fundraising, which she wore during much of her participation in Beat The Street.
She quickly realised she was also topping the leaderboards: “I’m not the fittest, or the youngest, and I thought I wouldn’t be able to maintain that.
“But because I enjoyed it, and because I was fundraising, it gave me that extra boost on those times when I thought I just couldn’t do it anymore.”
She counted the social side of the game as one of the biggest benefits: “Some of the best bits have been meeting other people, hugs with people I’d never have met, and may never again.
“I made new friends, lost five kilos, and managed to keep first place too.”
Maria collected the first place trophy in the individual category when Beat The Street announced its winners at the awards ceremony in Dee Space Community Hall on Tuesday, November 7.
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She said: “I wanted to do it because I wanted to continue to spread that awareness.
“You have to go for check-ups: if you find any lumps that don’t go away within a few weeks, you need to get them checked.
“There are more and more cases of thyroid cancer, and it is particularly prevalent in middle-aged women– the earlier you catch things the better, and there are so many ways to treat cancer now.”
She also said that cancer charity Macmillan had been a big help: “They work with communities who might not be able to get checked out, which is a huge help.
“There are some who don’t speak the language or may have religious barriers to getting checked out, which they’re working to break down.”
Maria originally aimed to raise £1,000 for Butterfly, but at time of print her JustGiving page has reached more than £1,500 in combined donations and Gift Aid.
More information about Butterfly’s work providing dedicated support for those with thyroid cancer is available via: butterfly.org.uk
More information about Macmillan’s support for those with cancer is available via: macmillan.org.uk
Maria is still taking donations in aid of Butterfly via her JustGiving page: justgiving.com/page/maria-glenister-1695897589302
