ROAD TO RECOVERY
MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS…
WHEN THESE FOUR INSPIRING RUNNERS FACED DEVASTATING HEALTH NEWS, RUNNING MOTIVATED AND SUPPORTED THEM ON THEIR ROAD TO RECOVERY
IT’S A COMMON BUT SCARY SCENARIO. A patient sits anxiously opposite a doctor as they point to ominous-looking scans or an unsettling set of test results. Anyone given a grim diagnosis will have numerous questions. How will my life be impacted? What does the future hold? And for runners, there’s likely to be another one – are my running days over?
I found myself in this exact situation a few years ago when I was diagnosed – out of the blue – with type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune condition. The nurse explained that my life would never be the same again, that this chronic disease needs careful and constant self-management. Everything you do when you have diabetes – from what you eat to when you do household chores – can have a direct consequence on your blood glucose, sending it rocketing upwards or plummeting dangerously low.
Figuring all this out, alongside a daily regime of multiple insulin injections, was a lot to take in. Despite this diagnosis seeming to affect every aspect of my life, I was eager to ask the nurse a question which, in some ways, seemed trivial against the monumental changes ahead: will I be able to run again? When she replied ‘yes’ and that exercise would help keep my diabetes on a more even keel, that early December afternoon back in 2017 seemed slightly less bleak.
There’s lots of evidence that a diagnosis of a serious health condition need not stop you lacing up your trainers – although everyone’s case is different and you must seek advice from a health professional about your own circumstances. Japanese researchers reported in the Integrative Cancer Therapies journal in 2020 that aerobic exercise (such as running) has a positive effect on mortality from and recurrence of various cancers. Meanwhile, when a University of Amsterdam study examined cancer survivors’ experiences, it discovered that those who completed an exercise programme during and after undergoing chemotherapy experienced ‘renewed energy’, allowing them a better quality of life and easing them back into work.
NHS hospitals encourage patients on a cardiac rehabilitation programme to gradually return to moderate exercise – ideally 30 minutes most days each week. This is echoed by the British Heart Foundation, which acknowledges that while exercising following a heart attack or cardiac surgery can be daunting, it can reduce the risk of further heart issues. Returning to some level of exercise can also maintain better mental health. A study by the University of North Carolina’s department of psychiatry found that the majority of patients in a group undergoing cardiac rehabilitation experienced lower anxiety and depressive symptoms if they
