I’m Catherine, my husband and I have five children and one gorgeous grandchild.

We’re a really active family – we all like to run marathons and do ocean swims and cycle. We were lucky enough to go Hawai’i for an ironman.

When we got back, I was feeling really unwell. Finally, after some blood tests, they said I had a bone marrow cancer called multiple myeloma. In my case, I was riddled with cancer – I had 98 percent cancerous bone marrow. They started treatment and it’s hard, it’s fast and it’s brutal, so you become very low on energy.

But the first blood transfusion I had, I arrived and I could hardly walk. But I sat down and after 15 minutes it’s like you’re oxygenated strong blood gifted to you and you get your life back. It means you’re a mum again because you can laugh and talk and care about what’s going on in your children’s world again. The second thing it does is it fortifies and strengthens your body so you can handle the next round of chemo.

After chemo and transfusions, I was strong enough to go into the transplant process and I came out of that well and in deep, deep remission. One way I felt I could give back with my energy levels was by working with Atlantis Health to help make it easy for people to make bookings to give their blood. It’s been really healing to be able to give back like that.

The gift of a blood donation saves your life on so many levels. I get stronger by the month, so I’ll be back to running marathons in no time.