Putting their best foot forward

Editorial: Danielle Ford

Photography: Grant Condon

As a member of Victoria Police's Solo Unit for the past nine years, Leading Senior Constable Brett Sheehan has seen his fair share of funerals.

The specialist motorcycle unit of the State Highway Patrol, which operates patrols on both sealed and unsealed roads throughout Victoria, often conducts motorcades at high-profile funerals and the funerals of police.

This duty means Solo Unit members may sometimes escort people they knew and worked with to their final resting place.

It was during one of these moments that Ldg Sen Const Sheehan had a startling thought that forced him to take stock of his own health, despite being fit and active and having no specific health concerns.

Ldg Sen Const Brett Sheehan is trading his riding boots for running shoes to raise awareness of bowel cancer, a disease he battled for nearly two years.

“The majority of the funerals we escort are fellow officers or their families,” Ldg Sen Const Sheehan said.

“I was in a funeral escort for a police officer I had worked with. He was diagnosed with cancer and died very unexpectedly.

“The thought suddenly hit me that the next funeral escort could be for me.

“Being a typical male, I hadn’t had a health check for several years and I decided in that moment to get myself checked.”

That spur-of-the-moment decision would end up completely changing, and ultimately saving, Ldg Sen Const Sheehan’s life.

On 7 May 2017, Ldg Sen Const Sheehan was diagnosed with bowel cancer after three malignant tumours were located during a colonoscopy.

During the next two-and-a-half years, he endured extensive treatments and surgeries.

“I had 12 months off work and, during that time, I did nine months of chemotherapy, six weeks of daily radiation and had 20 surgeries,” Ldg Sen Const Sheehan said.

Throughout all his treatment, the 49-year-old said he was determined to stay strong, for his family and friends who rallied around him.

“I’ve been a police officer for nearly 31 years and have been in some pretty tough situations, but nothing has ever tested me more that battling this cancer,” he said.

Almost three years later, Ldg Sen Const Sheehan has a clean bill of health and is using what he calls his ‘second lease on life’ to try and give back and make a difference.

He is in the final stages of training to run his first ever marathon.

In addition to helping ease some of the side effects of chemotherapy, running is also an opportunity for Ldg Sen Const Sheehan to raise awareness of bowel cancer and money for cancer research charities.

“No one should have to endure what I have,” Ldg Sen Const Sheehan said.

“Running helps with the stimulation of damaged nerves in my hands and feet, which are the result of the chemo, so I’ve been running a lot in the last couple of years.

“I signed up for the Run Melbourne Marathon as a challenge for myself and mostly because I want to help. I want to be able to give to cancer research and I want to raise awareness.

“I also want to reach out to my fellow police officers and their families. Our personal health can become a low priority in this job. We are constantly working to help others, so we can neglect ourselves at times.

“I want to show people how important it is to get regular health checks. It doesn’t matter what age you are, your level of fitness, your diet or your lifestyle – you need to get regular health checks.”

Ldg Sen Const Kylie Jane will take part in the London Marathon in April, running the event in a Victoria Police Fighting PTSD singlet to help raise awareness for police mental health.

When she is in the courtroom, police prosecutor Leading Senior Constable Kylie Jane is prepared, focussed and always after the best outcome. The same can be said when she's running a marathon.

What started as a way to get fit when she decided to join Victoria Police 25 years ago, has become a passion for the leading senior constable and a way for her to test herself.

“When I first started running, it was just short distances like 3 or 4km,” Ldg Sen Const Jane said.

“Over time, I started running a bit more and in 2001 my husband and I decided to train for a half marathon so we could say we’d done it.

“When we finished, my husband made a joking comment about doing a full marathon and we stuck to it. The next year, I completed the Sydney Marathon. From there, I also did the Melbourne Marathon and the Great Ocean Road Marathon shortly after.

“I love the challenge of them. It tests you not only physically, but mentally. It’s a great way to see what your body and your mind can really handle.”

After a 10-year hiatus from running when she had her children, Ldg Sen Const Jane got back into running in 2015, deciding to run the New York Marathon to celebrate her 40th birthday. The celebration reignited her passion for running.

“The time I ran in New York gave me automatic qualification to the Boston Marathon, which is quite a prestigious marathon to qualify for, so I decided to sign up and ran it in 2017,” she said.

Ldg Sen Const Jane credits running as a form of therapy for her – a way to release the stresses of work and life.

“I find that if work or a particular case is getting to me, going for a run helps me process everything, reset and feel mentally refreshed,” she said.

“We are quite lucky in prosecutions, in the way that we aren’t seeing incidents first-hand and attending jobs.

“But you still have cases that get to you, that impact you simply from hearing about them.

“When you’re dealing with cases regarding sexual or brutal assaults, it’s going to impact you just reading about them. It’s important to find a way to deal with that stress and for me it’s running.”

The Geelong prosecutor also uses her running to inspire others and to highlight causes close to her heart.

Having lost two close friends to breast cancer in the same year, Ldg Sen Const Jane ran the Berlin and Chicago marathons in 2019 in honour of them, with previous run times qualifying her for the two events.

“I had a breast cancer awareness singlet designed with their initials incorporated into it,” she said.

“You don’t know what’s around the corner and I wanted to use their memory during those runs to inspire myself and others to do everything we can to enjoy life and look after our health.”

Ldg Sen Const Jane will lace-up for her next marathon in April when she tackles the London Marathon, the fifth of the World Marathon Majors she has taken part in.

The majors are considered the pinnacle for marathon runners, with those who complete all six awarded a Six Star Finisher medal, something only a few thousand people in the entire world have achieved.

To be awarded the medal, runners have to qualify for and complete six of the largest and most renowned marathons in the world: Boston, New York City, Chicago, London, Berlin and Tokyo, the latter of which she hopes to run in 2021.

Ldg Sen Const Jane will use the London event to raise awareness for another cause close to her heart, mental health.

“During my career, I’ve worked with several people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and seeing the impact it has had on their lives is hard,” she said.

“Victoria Police has lost a lot of people in recent times due to mental health and I want to be able to do my bit to shine more light on the issue.”

Ldg Sen Const Jane will run the London Marathon in a Victoria Police Fighting PTSD singlet, in the hope that people will ask her about the cause.