{"id":57394,"date":"2025-05-21T08:22:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T08:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/?p=57394"},"modified":"2025-05-21T11:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T11:23:08","slug":"5k-your-way-ambassador-shares-how-movement-builds-community-amid-cancer-journeys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/05\/21\/5k-your-way-ambassador-shares-how-movement-builds-community-amid-cancer-journeys\/","title":{"rendered":"\u20185K Your Way\u2019 ambassador shares how movement builds community amid cancer journeys"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An ambassador for a cancer support initiative has shared how she started a group in Sheffield and how movement and community have helped members through their cancer journeys.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helen Quirk, 36, a researcher in physical activity for health, is part of 5K Your Way Endcliffe, a support group that encourages people affected by cancer to stay active together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Groups meet monthly at more than 100 parks across the UK and Ireland, to participate in a parkrun and a shared coffee and conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quirk, who has taken part in parkrun since 2011, \u2018jumped at the opportunity\u2019 to create a group in Sheffield after hearing that Move Against Cancer had launched 5K Your Way in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her research focuses on developing our understanding of physical activity participation and particularly on increasing the activity levels of those who face barriers to taking part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said: \u201cIt’s a great way for me to bring together my professional and personal interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs an Ambassador, it’s really rewarding seeing the positive impact our group has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ve also experienced loss, which is difficult for us but we take pride in having supported people at the end of their life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the UK, around 3 million people are currently living with cancer, and approximately 400,000 are diagnosed each year, according to 2024 statistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quirk says the benefits of staying active while living with or beyond cancer are \u201calmost endless’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe tend to think about them as physical, mental, and social,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physical benefits range from reduction in cancer-related fatigue to alleviating treatment side effects and lowering the risk of cancer recurrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being active can reduce anxiety and boost self-esteem, and 5K Your Way values the social benefits, fostering friendships, providing shared experience and reducing feelings of loneliness and isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group encourages people to \u2018go at their own pace\u2019, whether that means running, jogging, walking, spectating or even just going for the social side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quirk said: \u201cOne quote from an attendee that always sticks in my mind is, ‘I’d never have got out of bed today if it wasn’t for this’.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Move Against Cancer continues to grow into a community that believes in the power of movement for those impacted by cancer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An ambassador for a cancer support initiative has shared how she started a group in Sheffield and how movement and community have helped members through their cancer journeys. Helen Quirk, 36, a researcher in physical activity for health, is part of 5K Your Way Endcliffe, a support group that encourages people affected by cancer to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":57395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[135,12],"class_list":["post-57394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-sheffieldnews","tag-sheffield"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57394"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57403,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57394\/revisions\/57403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}