Romesh hails cancer survivor's marathon debut

Comedian Romesh Ranganathan has praised a cancer survivor who is running the London Marathon for the first time.

Yami Moloteni, from Milton Keynes, was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2021 at 18 years old.

The 22-year-old took part in a training session with the comedian as both are running the event in support of Teenage Cancer Trust

"It was an honour to meet Yami, she's such a strong, funny and inspirational person," he said.

His training partner had been working as a waitress when she started suffering with chest pains and breathing difficulties.

Initially doctors believed she had long Covid but seven months later her symptoms had worsened and she ended up in A&E to have her lungs drained.

She recalled: "While they were doing a series of tests, I remembered that the girl in The Fault in Our Stars [the novel and feature-length film] was diagnosed after her lungs filled up with water, and I put two and two together.

"I said to my friend 'I'm not being funny, but I think it's cancer'."

Ms Moloteni was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma and over the next two years was treated with chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiotherapy, before a stem cell transplant.

She praised her youth support coordinator, Clare, who she said was "amazing" and had become a "constant in my life".

During her meeting with the comedian, the young runner attempted to teach him how to be more Gen Z and joked her "dad was fangirling".

She added: "Only 0.01% of people around the world complete a marathon. When you add cancer survivor to that statistic, I must be even rarer."

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