Hi one and all, I’m Ash and I’m feeling super blessed to say that I’ve achieved a walk marathon
Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, I had some bad news about cancer. All of the tumours have grown, got a new one spotted in my lung where it is about 1.1 cm
Last year, I didn’t have a better experience as the cancer spread to my spine, which affected my walking and running to an extreme level. Long story short, I had to re-learn how to walk and run. I went from training for a marathon where the maximum distance I achieved was 19 miles, although, after that, the metastases just began to grow in that area; I didn’t know at all about it
It was a massive curveball and a horrible thing to deal with on top of what I’m going through already. It made me shed plenty of tears, especially when I heard the awful news that my cancer had grown; this was several months after I was diagnosed with spinal metastases. However, I remember chatting with a 3-time gold Olympic Medalist, Pete Reed OBE, who reminded me that “what gets in the way, becomes the way”. Unfortunately, quite some time ago, he went through a spinal stroke, which has caused him to be paralysed from his waist down, and he is in a wheelchair. He is a friend and former teammate of my step-brother, Jack Beaumont
“What gets in the way becomes the way”—one of the first thoughts that came into my mind. I initially thought I was training for a proper marathon, which was going well. However, life is too short to be upset constantly, so I thought, why not just go for walks more often? Eventually, I did over 13 miles in two days, in just under 11 hours, and chose to fundraise money for the Royal Marsden Charity. So far, just under £100 has been raised, and I plan to increase further by staying consistent with continuous charities and being able to say to myself, “This is a big deal towards my legacy”.
How did I feel after the walk marathon? Very rewarded, I proved myself wrong and others wrong. People with spinal cord injuries, epilepsy, cancer, etc. They’re, according to doctors and the average person, weak, unwell, and have low immunity, which affects their routine and other stuff. However, I’ve been one of the odds breakers, and I continue to be. Its not just with this, its also to do with this
cancer shrinking further treatment after treat
the lung tumour being the primary cause of stage 4 but became dead after chemotherapy.
going from approximately 6 brain tumours to now a total of 2.
keeping active and well throughout chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
“I hope everyone in this arena and saw this knockout can experience my level of happiness, just one time in your life. But I’ve got to say, that isn’t going to happen if you don’t go for something” – Israel Adesanya
If I were to summarise something from my walk marathon achievement is I was so happy after I did it regardless of my health. It reminded me how important it is to achieve things and put your mind to it as life is too short.
If I could teach yourselves from my achievement would be, “regardless of whatever challenges you’re going through, always remember that there always something you can do to make you happy and proud of yourself, look at me, I’m the evidence”.