SA woman Janica Lewis to take part in Leukaemia Foundation’s Great Wall of China climb

Janica Lewis is joining 15 other Australians in a hike across the Great Wall of China this week – in the hope it’ll raise enough funds to help other leukaemia and cancer sufferers.

Janika Lewis with husband Alex Murray and children Cleo, 8, and Ivy, 4. Janika will join 10 others to walk the great wall of China to raise funds for blood cancer research. Picture: AAP / Emma Brasier

Adelaide woman Janica Lewis has beat cancer twice, smashed the infertility odds of aggressive treatment and mourned the tragic death of a dear dual-leukaemia sufferer.

She is set to climb yet another mountain on Monday.

“This is such an important challenge to me,” she said.

Ms Lewis will be among 16 Australians climbing thousands of steps up and down the Great Wall of China to help find a cure for blood cancer this week.

“This is a huge learning experience for me – I’ve never done trekking before in my life, so I am really stepping out of my comfort zone,” she said.

Cheering her on from their St Morris home will be husband Alex Murray and daughters Cleo, 8, and Ivy, 4.

“My family is very much the reason behind why I am doing this,” Ms Lewis said.

Joining her are sisters Roslyn Beinke and Monica Turner, and mates Matt Fry and Carlos Gallardo – also from SA – who are trekking for loved ones who have died from leukaemia.

The 38-year-old communications specialist for the Leukaemia Foundation battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma twice – first at 19 and again at 23.

The second time she had an autologous stem cell transplant and was told she had a 90 per cent chance of becoming infertile because of the toxicity of her treatment.

Just when she thought she was done with blood cancer, the disease that killed more than 1800 Australians last year claimed one of her own.

Last October, Ms Lewis’ friend Matt Jackson died, aged 30, from acute myeloid leukaemia, more than a decade after his first battle with a different form of blood cancer.

“I was devastated – he was my leukaemia survivor buddy,” she said. His death propelled her to fundraise for research to beat the cancer that claimed Matt’s life and to ensure that loved ones like her own have better odds should they ever have to confront the disease.

So far, Australia has raised $80,000 for the Leukaemia Foundation wall climb, which reaches its pinnacle on June 16.