ROAD RUNNING
Des finishes the 2021 Comrades , just three years after overcoming breast cancer
Des ( middle ) and friends after a recent club training run
Running for
Recovery
I recently read one of your Modern Athlete mailers , about the 702 Walk the Talk , and it took me back a few years to when I did the 30km a few times , and then the 21km thereafter when the 30km was made defunct . That also led to me thinking back to my own running journey , and I decided to share my post-cancer Comrades story with you . – BY DESIREÉ FIRER
I
clicked out of the cleats of my racing bicycle and started running in about 1995 . It was a fabulous outlet from my academic studies and lecturing at a university . I managed to get my PB on a 10km down to 53 minutes , ran a 1:24 for 15km , and 1:53 on a 21km , and then I felt it was time to go for marathons and ultra-marathons . During my training , however , we found out that I was pregnant with the first of our four children . I had six pregnancies and four magnificent children in eight years … which certainly curtailed my running mileage !
Coming home for that coveted Comrades medal
When our youngest child , our son Raphael , was 10 weeks old , I began to waddle around the neighbourhood trying to get back into shape . Somehow , muscle memory kicked in , and soon I began to pick up my distances and my pace . Months of happy running followed .
Receiving Bad News
However , four days before Raphael ’ s first birthday , I was diagnosed with Her2 +, stage 1 , breast cancer of the left breast . It was on Friday 26 June 2009 that the biopsy confirmed the cancer . My mammographyradiologist recommended that I see a surgeon stat , which I did the following Monday . He recommended a full mastectomy of the left breast . I asked if I could celebrate Raphael ’ s first birthday with him on the Wednesday , 1 July , and then I would go into surgery on the Thursday , and so began the roller-coaster journey .
In November 2009 , I began an intensive year of chemotherapy , once every three weeks , six hours a session , for a proposed 17 sessions . The first six sessions , the ‘ big six ,’ left me decimated , but after that , during the next 11 , less intensive chemo sessions , I decided to try get back on the road . I wanted to normalise life for my children , who were used to me going out for a run . It was hard , and slow , and scary , but the body is a most glorious creation . I would run about four times a week – not on chemo days or the day after – and my strength and stamina began to increase .
I finished the 17 sessions of chemo in November 2010 and in February-March 2011 , began a series of breast reconstruction operations . I was blessed with a simply brilliant team of doctors at the Donny Gordon Hospital .
Back on the Road
Fast forward to November of that same year , and my running mates convinced me to try to qualify for Comrades at the Soweto Marathon . I took up the challenge and I did it ! Then in March 2012 , I finished a rainy , wet , freezing cold mountainous Jerusalem Marathon and I decided to give Comrades 2012 a go .
What a race ! Here I was , 18 months after my year of chemo , having undergone several reconstructive operations , standing in my allotted starting batch cage with my best friend , listening to Chariots of Fire and the iconic sound of the cock crowing . Then we were off , and my emotions undulated , just as the arduous terrain of the course did … moments of euphoria , and moments of sheer grit .
When I crossed the finishing line at 11:33:51 , I still had to negotiate the climb over the bridge to get to my club ’ s tent ! When I finally arrived at the tent , I stretched and drank fluids , and then I passed clean out . There I was , holding my medal , wrapped in my silver tinfoil-wrapper space blanket , being carried on a gurney to the medical tent . From there I was transferred to the St Augustine ’ s Hospital , and suffice to say , the doctor who did my bloods told me that my bloodwork was simply a big mess . I was dripped for 24 hours after that .
Remind me if I cared a jot ? Yes , I did take it easy for a while ... until three months later , when I ran the glorious City-to-City 50km ultra , from Johannesburg to Pretoria , and besides some discomfort from lymphoedema in my hands , I smiled the whole way home in the car , together with my husband Steven and our four kids . ( PS : Raphael is now nearly 13 years old and our girls are 14 , 17 and 19 !)
About the Author
Desireé Firer holds an MA in English Education and a Licentiate Diploma in Speech & Drama . She is the Assistant Editor of Soul Sport magazine , a unique Jewish sports and lifestyle magazine . She still runs regularly .
Images : Courtesy Desireé Firer
28 ISSUE 137 JANUARY 2021 / www . modernathlete . co . za