Wellington's Jonathan Holmes has been through hell in the past 12 months, but despite everything he never gave up on the sport of triathlon.
And after recent tests came back negative for traces of cancer, Jonathan is poised to fulfil his ambition to complete Challenge Wanaka in January 2012.
Jonathan, 42, has always been an active person and has competed in the Coast-to-Coast, long distance cycling events and triathlon in recent years.
His tough journey with cancer all started with a sore back that refused to go away a little over 12 months ago. The pain was waking him up at night and causing severe discomfort.
At the time he was training for Challenge Wanaka, so figured the aches were related to the huge stress his body was under. But after several weeks without improvement he decided it was finally time to visit the doctor. On Tuesday June 22, 2010, Jonathan's GP referred him straight to the hospital for an ultra-sound two days later.
The news wasn't good – Jonathan had stage two testicular cancer which had spread to his lymph glands.
His GP was extremely upset by the news while one of Jonathan's first questions was whether he would still be able to run the Wellington Half Marathon that weekend. The answer was an emphatic ‘no' with surgery booked in for the next available slot.
Ever resolute, Jonathan likens his journey through cancer treatment to competing in a triathlon – different challenges split into key moments that make up the overall race.
"The operation was like the swim leg in my iron distance race in Wanaka; not my favourite discipline, but over relatively quickly and in terms of the entire race only a small proportion of my day,” he said.
Jonathan's next problem was a cauliflower sized tumour pressing hard up against his spine which was causing extreme pain and strange sensations in his legs. Once recovered from surgery, he went straight onto chemotherapy to treat the tumour.
"One thing that triathlon teaches you is to pace your efforts as you never know quite how well your legs are going to go for. I was therefore viewing what was to be five months of chemo called BEP as the bike leg with a few uphill sections, keep ticking off the days as they pass and the end would soon be here.”
While he felt his fitness ebbing away, the chemo didn't knock him around too much and he still managed to get out for walks whenever possible. He even made it out onto the bike for a popular ride around the bays in Wellington. Feeling more like his former self, Jonathan targeted a short local triathlon in December 2010 as well as the final leg (40km) of the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge.
But when December came around Jonathan was delivered the brutal news that his cancer was still active, along with a terrifying set of options comprising of just months to live or another two phases of draining chemo with several cycles of stem cell transplants. It wasn't much of a choice – more treatment was on the way.
The tumour was now the size of a lemon but was steadily grow in size. During this round of treatment he often felt sapped of all energy and sometimes couldn't even get out of bed. But looking forward to the days that he did feel well enough to be up and about got him through the ordeal.
"The days would tick by to the weekend and as if by magic on Saturday I'd feel well again and have some degree of energy. Knowing this was great for staying positive, the pain was unbelievable, say the combination of your worst migraine and tooth ache, but knowing it wouldn't last kind of kept me sane.
"So, the bike leg transitioned into the marathon - the last part of the ironman. The run leg can induce the odd vision, runs to the toilet for various reasons, your stomach often plays up, your legs might give in at any moment and you're not sure whether you're going to make it to the finish line. Perfect, seemed exactly like cancer treatment.”
Fast forward to June 2011, Jonathan's chemo is finished and another blood test and CT scan have confirmed the great news that after seven weeks the cancer markers are still normal.
He faces a PET scan, a 13 hour operation to remove residual scar tissue and a one hour procedure to remove a central line before the road to taking control of his life starts again.
His ambitions begin with training for Challenge Wanaka in January, a race he was supposed to do this year. Event organisers have rolled his entry over and given him some great memorabilia to help inspire his comeback.
"There was an ex-US Marine interviewed at Kona 2010 who had stage four testicular cancer and he had done a half ironman during treatment and within 12 months of treatment finishing he was competing at Kona. Some people might think he was nuts, but I just loved the attitude, so it got me thinking 'what the hell, go and do Challenge Wanaka in six months'. After all my cancer was stage two, not four!
"I'm registered for Challenge Wanaka 2012, so I have ambitions to go round faster but ultimately I just want to complete the course. It'll signify my return to some form of fitness and the end of a pretty challenging journey.”
Jonathan has had plenty of support from his community in Wellington and is excited about returning to normality very soon.
Sue Melsop, a chemo nurse at Wellington Hospital who was fifth in her age group at Kona in 2009 (and first Kiwi out of the swim), has kept him positive all the way through treatment and given him plenty of tips for when he feels well enough to begin full training.
"I've had some amazing encouragement and support over the last 12 months and lots of ideas for getting myself fit again for Challenge Wanaka 2012. Dave Creamer, a local coach provides gym exercises and will put together something more structured for me and Thomas Gerard, a fellow cancer survivor from the UK, has given me heaps of encouragement on the disease of cancer and triathlon.
"Throughout the last 12 months, getting back to this point is what has motivated me. Now is my time again.”
