Beating Cancer

Who need’s Inspiration?

This blog post is a little different from my normal informative blogs that I have written this year. I want to share a story with you about a client of mine. Her name is Cherie.

I meet Cherie in November 2018. She contacted me via facebook and we started to have a conversation via messenger. After back and forth messaging I quickly realised I needed the have a real conversation with Cherie. There was more to her story and I needed to hear it. She gave me her number and I called her. We chatted on the phone for about half an hour. At first when i was speaking with Cherie I thought she was smoking while we were talking cause I could hear she was breathless, and as we went deeper into the conversation she told me she had had Lung Cancer (then I understood why she was breathless and in fact wasn’t smoking at all). 

After having our conversation, Cherie went off to her doctor got a medical clearance and was booked in with me for her first personal training session.

When you come into my studio I have two ramps to walk up. For Cherie this was a major challenge because she had a half a lung removed as part of her treatment, and radiation and chemo had left scarring on the other lung. This made breathing everyday a struggle. So when it came to stairs or hills it made breathing that much harder and scary, that feeling like your not getting enough oxygen. 

Cherie’s goals were to improve her breathing capacity, lose weight (having put on weight during her treatment was causing other medical issues) and to feel better about herself.

We started Cherie off in Yoga, Pilates, Suspension and Personal Training. I just told Cherie to do what she could. If she felt panicked at anytime with her breathing, she was to stop and concentrate on breathing calmly, slowly and deep.

Every week Cherie was going from strength to strength. I could see she was stopping less in classes, having less issues with her breathing and getting stronger. She gives everything a go.

Cherie was awarded my Member of the Month award for January. In 3 months Cherie has lost 6.4kg, 1.4% body fat and has increased her lean muscle mass by 0.4%. She has lost an amazing 37.5cm of her body.

I asked Cherie what would be your advice to anyone who is thinking about starting an exercise program, her answer is “ Despite limitations there is still room for exercise. All you need to do is start somewhere, go at your own pace but push yourself that little bit and you will see the results” And you sure will.

I couldn’t agree more with Cherie. You just need to start, put yourself and your health first. And no matter what your current condition, there is always an alternative exercise if your limited by certain conditions. Believe in yourself and take small steps.