After so many ups and downs , I am not sure where to even start this story , but I hope telling it will inspire others to keep running , no matter what life may throw at you . – BY ALICIA OPPERMAN

Alicia at the finish of the 2019 Comrades Marathon

Later I started cross country , and I have this memory that will never go away . Before one of my big events , my mom made me some 2-minute noodles , and to me that felt like my mom just gave me a million Rand ! I was the happiest kid alive , and I did very well that day . It must be because of the love I got from my parents .

I wanted to start doing longer distances when I was still a teen , but an adult male told me that I would never be able to do that . Then we relocated from Gauteng to Limpopo , when my dad started working on a mine , and I continued running there . One day a few older male runners saw me training on the mine and asked if I want to join them , so I joined a team of four parents that ran and they took me under their wings . My parents couldn ’ t afford new tekkies for me , so I trained barefoot for most of my 16th year , until one day a local farmer came to my house , collected me and took me to town to buy me my first pair of adidas . I was crying , I was so grateful .

Every time I went to an event with my new running friends , I got first place in my category , and I was awarded the best Junior half marathon athlete in Limpopo . When we went to run in other provinces , I would take my school books with and study whilst the adults were having a braai or socialising .

Booked Off from Running

In 2006 , at the age of 21 , I began to experience medical problems that forced me to put my running on hold for several years . I was told I had cervical cancer , and that I would never be able to have children . I went to the gynae numerous times and was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome , which meant I constantly had cysts that would burst and make me very sick . I got married in 2008 , and my ( then ) partner and I wanted to try start a family , so we went to the gynae for injections , medicine , etc , but they kept telling us that I won ’ t get pregnant . I didn ’ t give up , however , and kept using the medicine and injections .

Alicia with her three boys

Proud mommy ’ s pic of her boys heading to school

Finally I fell pregnant , and in November 2009 my water broke . I was in labour for eight hours , but because I had had a cervical operation for the cancer , I couldn ’ t give natural birth and they had to give me an emergency C-section , but finally my son Ryan was born . My doctor said that if I wanted to have another baby , I should try again six weeks after Ryan ’ s birth , and with the love of God , I had another son , Dylan , in 2011 . Sadly , we had twins , but one baby didn ’ t survive .

At the age of two , Ryan somehow got hold of and drank poison , and had to be rushed to the ICU , where I was told that if they don ’ t transfer him to Kloof Mediclinic , he will not make it . The next morning , he was transferred , and when we got there , he was taken into theatre immediately . The doctors said we would know in 48 hours if he would pull through , and I was so worried about my child that I ended up getting bracial plexitis . The doctors took a look at me , and after years of being sick and not knowing what was going on , they told me that I had fibromyalgia !

For three weeks Ryan was in ICU , and I couldn ’ t touch him , hold him or even speak to him . We would get to his room in the ICU at 7am and sit there the whole day , until 7pm , just looking at him lying there ,

Images : Action Photo SA & courtesy Alicia Opperman