Click here to support David Spencer in the London Marathon 2021.
David’s Story
Fit, active, in perfect health, and into healthy organic eating, you can imagine the shock as things changed forever. As fate would have it, this year’s London Marathon is on the 3rd October; the exact same day I woke up 3 years ago in excruciating agony. The relief waking up cancer free helped numb some of the pain. Waking up after 14 hours with a shorter oesophagus and half a stomach missing was odd. Learning how to walk again, step by step; the thought of ever running again was laughable. Despite my tiny little tumour, the statistics for oesophageal cancer are unforgiving, and for the first time I acknowledged my own mortality amidst a dizzy, painful blur.
I have always had incredible family support and this fund raiser is for the many many people I have met who are in a much less fortunate position than myself and need help. The Oesophagus Patients Association do a great job supporting this.
My Journey
Getting to the point of running large distances (65km is the largest) has been a really tough journey. Building up my skeletal body and fragile mind was the toughest thing imaginable and yet one particular moment will stay with me forever. Nervous, anxious, cold and hungry, sat in the ‘cancer clinic’ – it was ‘testing day’. 6 months post-surgery I sat there in disbelief, my skeletal body had shed 38kg as I waited for those dreaded ‘hand incisions’. Routine endoscopy and PET scanning, vital and yet such a strain on the body. Feeling sorry for myself the self-pity was abruptly interrupted by something harrowing and yet mindset changing. A tiny little girl, dwarfed by the instruments and utensils on offer in the arena of nuclear testing; she was being prepped for the same things I was doing. She was crying as the large, much thicker PET scan needle was inserted into her tiny innocent little hand. The ordeal took a couple of minutes as mum had a colourful teddy bear ready for this inevitable moment. She was immediately happy and relaxed – such a brave little girl in her own cancer battle. My own career flashed before me – I love working with children and have the best job in the world. My own children – all 5 of them – also innocent and amazing. In a blur my eyes then diverted back to the girl, sat there with Rainbow Bear, her tiny frame was maybe 7 years old – the same as my eldest daughter at the time – this changed me. As my journey continued I met many amazing people along the way, from babies all the way to people in their 80’s. These people are unbelievably brave – real heroes in my eyes and the toughest I have ever met.
With a totally new mindset I took a gym membership and started building muscle back onto my body and was soon able to run for hours and hours on end with a new found grit. I made changes to the way I talk in relation to cancer, speaking more of good fortune rather than any element of bad luck. For a long time I was embarrassed, and suddenly I became an open book. I adapted my diet completely and worked with an amazing dietician on how to sustain energy with a half sized stomach – the ‘Tupperware Man’ was born – constantly carrying pots of food around I now find amusing. Certainly running marathons with a half stomach presents interesting challenges in that regard! I also adapted the way I teach and found I could still make strong connections with young people. Despite some unavoidable side-effects I am lucky, happy and live each day with a sense of thanks.
The amazing patients I met, Dr Pok Eng Hong who has performed countless procedures with precision, Dietician Shakina, my amazing wife Adrienna and mother Bron who took great care of me, Dave and Rich in Hong Kong who got me out on those early runs during recovery, and my friends and family – thank you for everything you have done. Time for me now to give something back.
Comments are closed.