Newsreader Sian Williams has shared her joy at completing the London Marathon, less than two years after going into remission following a battle with breast cancer.
The former ‘BBC Breakfast’ presenter, who now fronts Channel 5 News, completed the 26.2 mile course in an impressive four hours and 20 minutes on Sunday (23 April).
Sian said running the marathon made her “grateful to be here” after her battle with the disease, and admitted to finding the experience emotional.
Taking to Twitter after the event, she wrote: “Cancer is often a mental struggle as well as a physical. So grateful to be here - thoughts with those who can’t be.”
She was pictured crying as she crossed the finish line, and later replied to a friend who she ran the race with and helped her through.
“Thanks for helping me dig deep when I got emotional,” she said. “Btw - official time 4:20. Gobsmacked.”
Sian, who ran the race in aid of mental health charity Heads Together, also said she was brought to tears by the words of her former BBC colleague Sophie Raworth.
“Thanks to my lovely mate @sophieraworth who supported me. And said ‘look how far you’ve come!’ (Cue tears),” she wrote.
Sian first spoke about her breast cancer last May, having kept her diagnosis private.
She revealed she’d undergone treatment, including a double mastectomy and went on to release a book called ‘Surviving and Thriving After Trauma’.
Sian presented BBC Breakfast, mostly alongside Bill Turnbull, for 11 years, until she moved Radio 4 in 2012. She now presents 5 News on Channel 5.