Francesco’s Story – Running for Hope, Healing, and the Breast Cancer Institute

In May 2025, Professor Francesco Pomponi, laced up his running shoes to run his first marathon at the Edinburgh Marathon Festival. This was far more than a personal challenge — it was a deeply emotional journey rooted in love, resilience, and gratitude.

This is Francesco’s Story:

Cancer sucks, we all know that.

It sucks even more when it hits your healthy wife and you have two young children.

It sucks so much more if you’re in a country that’s not really your own, with no lifelong friends and no family around.

It’s easy to get into despair and feel the challenge ahead is unsurmountable. But thankfully the NHS remains – with all its struggles and challenges – an amazing national pride, and the Breast Cancer Institute in Edinburgh has been a defining partner in this fight.

It’s hard for me to write but I realised quite quickly how useless I was for my wife. As a nurse, she wanted doctors’ opinions and fact, not my sentimentalist self.

The help we received from the NHS Lothian Breast Cancer Staff, from screening through diagnosis, and from surgery to post-op has been nothing short of outstanding, and while we’re not out of the woods yet there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Their competence is world class, and their support is unfailingly positive. It’s hard to believe it, but we nearly always left the appointments with a smile on our face or some sense of relief and hope.”

To say thank you for the amazing care his wife received, Francesco chose to run to support the Breast Cancer Institute (BCI) – an NHS Lothian Charity fund dedicated to advancing breast cancer research. He raised an incredible £5,918 – and personally matched the first £1,000 donated.

As Francesco reflected on his marathon journey, he shared how transformative the experience had been:

I absolutely LOVED it. It was my first marathon, I didn’t know what to expect and it’s been an amazing experience physically, mentally, and socially. I felt hooked already at the start, but I knew as I was crossing the finish line that I would run another marathon.”

And he meant it! Francesco has already signed up to run the marathon at EMF 2026, not just to beat his time, but to continue to raise awareness and support for NHS Lothian Charity’s Breast Cancer Institute fund.

I personally loved it all. So, I want to experience it all again and challenge myself to a better time. But also, over the months of training and fundraising I have received so many messages of support from people near and far, saying how much me sharing how cancer had impacted my family was an opportunity for them to open up, or to reflect, or to reach out to friends, or to raise awareness. I realised the impact of my running and fundraising has been far-reaching, way beyond what I thought was possible. And this is an excellent reason to cramp again, and get caught in another hailstorm if need be!”

Francesco’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. His dedication and generosity are deeply appreciated by the skilled specialists and clinicians who are working hard to advance breast cancer treatment and care. Mike Dixon, Consultant Breast Surgeon and NHS Lothian Charity, BCI representative shared his thanks:

When a patient develops breast cancer it’s not just them that are affected, it’s their family and their friends. Francesco’s story tells how breast cancer in his family, inspired him to raise money by running his first marathon to support Breast Cancer Research in Edinburgh.

“Thank you, Francesco, for your amazing effort and your donation. Your support will fund important research to better understand why breast cancer returns in some women and will help find new treatment approaches in these women to stop this happening.“

We can’t thank Francesco enough for his commitment, resilience and support. His fundraising will go on to support important, life-saving research that will touch countless lives. Francesco is a great example of what it means to turn personal adversity into purposeful action — inspiring those around him, raising money to support others, and showing that even in the face of life’s toughest challenges, hope and purpose can carry us forward.