Nicky Roberts :… WHY WE TRI
“I was 44 years old when I fi st had a breast check. I’d always been healthy, and with work and family and life – well, these things get pushed back. On D ecember 17, 2014, a tumour was detected. I was told it was cancerous. It wasn’t a particularly fun Christmas. I had two lumpectomies and 20 rounds Nick y robe rts, of radiation. H owever, a post surgery 47, w ife, mo the r, check revealed the prognosis was ment al he al th nu rse, b reast can cer su rvivo r. excellent, and I just got on with life. In June 2016, I had a followup ultrasound. While there, the radiologist checked my other breast and found an area of concern. I had a biopsy on the spot, and received a call the next night to say they had discovered cancer in the second breast. I decided on double mastectomy. It was six weeks between rediagnosis and surgery, partly because the lengthy waiting list for surgery and partly because I was arranging a breast reconstruction to happen at the same time. Waiting, not knowing if the cancer had spread, was awful. D uring surgery, a 5cm tumor was detected – practically the whole of my breast! It had spread to the lymph nodes, so I went back to have a full lymph clearance, at which point they discovered the cancer had truly spread. I discovered triathlons purely by chance fi e years ago, before breast cancer. I’d never been a sporty person, and I’d just started jogging around the block. Getting to 5km was huge for me! I saw the end of the full Ironman Triathlon on the Cairns Esplanade and someone told me about the distances the competitors had completed. I was amazed and inspired and decided on the spot that I wanted to do a triathlon! The following year I signed up for the Enticer distance at the Coral Coast T riathlon. I trained on my own; I didn’t dare go to squad training. I was too embarrassed about my lack of fitne s and skill. I read books on how to race. I bought a bike off Gumtree for $180 – it was a horrid, bright mustard yellow. I put it in for a service and when I collected it, they laughed and told me it was the heaviest race bike they’d ever had! I practiced all my transitions by myself; I’d ride down to the beach, swim the exact distance in the stinger net and ride my bike home, then off I’d go on a run. I came second place in my very fi st triathlon. And I was hooked. I managed to train and race through both lots of diagnoses and treatments, after my initial diagnosis I was still able to complete the Cairns H alf Ironman. I’m hoping to do the same this year, despite much more difficult treatments: more surgery, and fi e months of chemotherapy and radiation, which I’m still receiving. When you start exercising, motivation can be tough because you’re not necessarily feeling the benefits Eventually you get to a tipping point where training just feels good it becomes
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