A woman running the London Marathon for her ex-boyfriend has admitted she left him because she couldn’t cope with his cancer battle.
Danielle Epstein, 32, was buying a house with Jelle Fresen in London last year when he was diagnosed with a rare form of brain tumour at just 37. He needed a complex operation, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and had to learn to walk again.
While all this was going on physics teacher Danielle began having panic attacks and her mental health plummeted – so she ended their relationship. She moved to Thailand but remained friends with Jelle – and is now running a marathon for a brain tumour charity.
She said she was still ‘figuring out’ her friendship with Jelle, adding: ‘I felt like the most awful person, leaving somebody because they have cancer, but it was damaging my mental health and it wasn’t helping Jelle.’