Mother with stage 4 breast cancer initially given ‘two years to live’ to tackle Sir Chris Hoy’s 56-mile cycle challenge

A teaching assistant with stage 4 breast cancer initially given “up to two years to live” has defied doctors’ expectations and is preparing to tackle Sir Chris Hoy’s 56-mile cycle challenge.

Sam Andrews, 53, from Corsham, Wiltshire, was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer – which means the disease has spread to other parts of the body – in August 2016 after suffering from persistent back pain.

At the time of her diagnosis, the mother-of-three said a CT scan revealed the cancer had spread to her bones and the lining of her lungs, as well as her skull.

Despite being told that she might only live for “a couple of months to two years”, Sam has defied doctors’ expectations following chemotherapy and hormone therapy, and continues to live life in “four-month blocks” between scans.

Her husband John – who did not let a broken leg stop him proposing to Sam back in 1994 – is a keen cyclist and will be supporting his wife as they tackle Sir Chris Hoy’s Tour de 4 Red Ride around Glasgow, consisting of 56 miles and 3,772 feet of elevation this September.

The couple want to inspire people living with cancer and help fundraise for better treatments to improve others’ quality of life.

“There’ll be good days, there’ll be bad days,” Sam told PA Real Life.

“I want people with cancer to just do as much as they possibly can, spend time with loved ones while they still can – and never give up hope.”

John added: “Everyone thinks when they hear stage 4, that’s it – that you might as well just head to the cemetery, but you can live an active life with cancer.”

Sam was working as a teaching assistant and leading a healthy and active lifestyle, including training for a marathon, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, aged 44, in August 2016.

“I’d been having backache for quite a while and I’d been to the doctors a few times and got different strength painkillers,” Sam said.

“One day, the physio said to me, ‘This isn’t working – I think you need to go and get a blood test’. She basically saved my life.”

After the blood test, Sam was sent for a CT scan, which she said revealed widespread cancer and she felt “complete shock and horror” as “cancer wasn’t even on (her) radar”.

“I asked how long I had, and they (doctors) said, ‘A couple of months to two years’. They didn’t expect me to get to Christmas,” she added.

Sam said she required blood transfusions to get strong enough to begin treatment, and then underwent 18 weeks of chemotherapy from September 2016 to January 2017 – hoping to have regained enough strength each week by the Monday to go on a day out with her husband.

John was supported by his boss to work from home so he could help look after the couple’s three children – two boys aged 26 and 24, and a daughter, aged 20 – who were respectively preparing for exams and had just started secondary school during Sam’s treatment.

Sam and John met in 1993 while cleaning yachts that Sam’s family were involved in racing, and John proposed a year later with a broken leg at the London boat show.

“I couldn’t go down on one knee, so I was on two knees in the middle of the Guinness stand,” John said.

“A friend tried to help me up – she thought I’d fallen over!”

They now manage life in “four-month blocks” around Sam’s appointments and scans – finding it hard to plan any further in advance.

Following chemotherapy, Sam was placed on the hormone therapy drug tamoxifen and bone-strengthening injections called denosumab.

However, she said side effects from denosumab caused osteonecrosis of the jaw – death of bone tissue – leading to surgery and an exposed patch of bone in her mouth.

“I couldn’t even eat a Malteser – that’s how bad things were,” she said.

The couple has found humour helpful in coping with the side effects of cancer treatment, including hair loss, with Sam going dressed as Dobby the house elf from Harry Potter to a World Book Day event at school in March 2017.

Still working as a TA today, Sam now has lymphedema, which causes swelling in the body’s tissues, and wears a compression sleeve at school, often fielding questions from curious five-year-olds.

“There’s nothing like five or six-year-olds for grounding you – they are a real sanity check at times,” Sam said.

Exercise is another way that Sam copes with her condition, and the couple have already taken on several physical challenges together while raising money for charities which have supported Sam through her cancer journey.

In 2019 they completed a 26-mile walk for the Royal United Hospital Bath’s new Dyson Cancer Centre, raising £1,400.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, they locally walked the equivalent distance of 874 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats, raising £1,800 for the same hospital and the Soldiers’, Sailors’, and Airmen’s Families Association, who gave Sam a treadmill during the pandemic.

Now, they are preparing for the 56-mile Tour de 4 challenge on September 7 2025, organised by Sir Chris, who has been open about his own prostate cancer journey.

“I saw it on Facebook, then I got an email saying registration was open, so I signed us both up and told John we were doing it,” Sam explained.

“We’ve done some training runs (on our bikes), we’re up to 41 miles, but I struggle with hills because my haemoglobin is low. I need a few days to recover, so getting the training in is tricky.”

John added: “I think if we can just get her to the end of it, we’ll be pleased.

“It’s the hills that I’m worried about more than the actual distance.”

The couple are raising funds for Breast Cancer Now, a charity Sam credits with campaigning for the treatments which have helped her live beyond expectations.

“My aim at the very beginning was to keep going long enough for new treatments to be developed that would help me to keep going longer, and I did that,” Sam said.

Rachael Franklin, chief engagement officer at Breast Cancer Now, said: “We’re hugely grateful that Sam is taking part in the inaugural Tour de 4 challenge to support Breast Cancer Now.

“With an estimated 61,000 people in the UK living with incurable secondary (stage 4) breast cancer, by participating in this event Sam is helping to raise vital awareness of what living with this disease can mean and showing that it’s possible to live well despite this devastating diagnosis.

“By taking part in Tour de 4, Sam and others living with stage 4 cancer are also raising crucial funds for charities like ours – funds that, for Breast Cancer Now, will help us ensure we’re there for anyone affected by breast cancer through our life-changing support and lifesaving research.”

The couple have already surpassed their initial £400 fundraising target and hope to hit £1,000 by September.

“I enjoy getting out on my bike – maybe not so much while I’m actually doing it, but the endorphins kick in at the end,” said Sam.

“I’m quite a stubborn person – I will keep going as long as I possibly can, even if I’m walking up the hills.”

To donate or find out more, visit the fundraising page here: www.gofundme.com/f/Sam-John-Tour-de-4-Fundraiser.