CANCER survivor Elizabeth Tonner will be attempting 200 yoga poses in a fund-raising marathon.
The yoga teacher from the Greenhead area of Huddersfield had surgery for bowel cancer in 2010 and is now eager to raise awareness of the condition – the second most common cancer in the UK.
Elizabeth, who has been practising yoga for more than 40 years, decided to raise money for Ward 15 at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary – the enhanced recovery ward where she was nursed.
Her attempt at the 200 poses from the book Life on Yoga by the founder of the Iyengar style will be on Sunday, February 3, at Room for Yoga, Commercial Street, Brighouse. She will begin the poses at 10am and estimates that it will take her six hours.
“I’ll start at the beginning with the elementary poses and go on to the complex back bends,” she said. “People can come along and join in or just watch. We’ll be asking them to make a minimum donation on £2.50.”
Although risk factors for bowel cancer are being overweight, having a poor diet and drinking excess alcohol, it can still strike people like Elizabeth who are slim and have a healthy lifestyle.
“Everyone was very surprised when I told them I’d got it,” she said.
Survival rates are good among those who get treatment – up to 90% – but, unfortunately, some patients are afraid to seek help. There is only a 50% take-up for the national screening programme aimed at the 60 to 75 age group.
Elizabeth believes that being a yoga practitioner helped her to deal with the stress of chemotherapy and surgery.
