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How Hong Kong lawyer’s ‘lucky’ cancer diagnosis led her to become top trail runner
- Angie Yan was hit by a van while out running in London in 2015, which led to a doctor finding a lump in her collarbone
- After finishing second in the Lantau 2 Peaks trail race this month in the women’s division, the 30-year-old says ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’
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In 2015, Hongkonger Angie Yan Chi-yee was out for a run in London.
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Yan had been admitted to the Hong Kong Bar earlier that year and was in the city for a month of training as part of a scholarship. She headed out to Hyde Park in the cold December weather, preparing for her first half marathon.
It was here Yan was struck by a van.
“Luckily I didn’t have any fractures,” said the 30-year-old. “According to the ambulance drivers I smashed the car’s window but didn’t even have a fracture.”
It turns out, getting hit by that van may have saved Yan’s life. When she returned to Hong Kong, an orthopaedist was checking her neck to see if she had any pain, and discovered a lump the size of a pinball around her collarbone. Yan was then diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin Lymphoma, and immediately started chemotherapy.
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