POPULAR Meirionnydd fundraiser, Steffan Owen, has spoken of his recovery from cancer.Keen runner Steffan was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in May 2018 after years of battling a brain tumour. Before his diagnosis Steffan, who is from Dolgellau, organised and competed in various running challenges, raising over £5,000 for charity. Steffan told the Cambrian News about his recovery and the struggle he went through during treatment. He said: “The recovery process was really tough, harder than the treatment itself in some ways as I’m a very impatient person. I love getting out and about and I just didn’t have the energy, and the pain in my muscles and joints was too much.”Steffan added that the treatment he was given had no guarantees of success. He said: “My haemoglobin was low so my body was running on empty. The treatment that was going to help my haemoglobin recover was to take over four weeks and wasn’t guaranteed to work; luckily for me my body reacted well to it and my haemoglobin started to recover.”Steffan received a bone marrow transplant from his eldest daughter in September 2018 and returned to hospital in April 2019 for a biopsy. Since completing his treatment, Steffan has been back on the marathon scene. He took part in the Coed y Brenin 10k run last September. He said: “I raised money for a young girl and her family to come to Barmouth on holiday as she is very poorly.” Steffan was also able to give an update on what he is up to and his plans going forward. He said: “At the moment all I’m doing is trying to get some fitness back before deciding on my next challenge. I’m running Aberystwyth Charity 10k on Sunday and then Coed y Brenin half marathon on 18 January.”Steffan added that he had a further plan which he will reveal at a later date: “I have something in mind but I’m going to keep it to myself for now.”

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