Laura has always been an extremely determined individual. She was a competitive swimmer when she was younger. She also started running in 2014 as an escape route from stress and joined Porthcawl Runners so that she could have some “me time”. She quickly developed her running ability and raced through accomplishments such as completing her first 5K race in March 2015, then doing her first half marathon in October 2015 beating her goal of two hours by one minute and two seconds. Numerous half marathons followed (Isle of Man, Majorca, Malta, Armenia). But it was when someone told Laura, at the end of 2016, that she’d never be able to do a full marathon so soon in her running journey, that she set out to prove them wrong. Laura completed her first full marathon in 2017 with a time of 04:12. But nothing shows Laura’s astonishing determination quite like her triathlon journey whilst battling with bowel cancer. Keep reading to hear Laura’s amazing story.
Laura’s triathlon journey starts with the help of her German friend Marc Bernreuther. Laura describes Marc as “the best thing that ever happened to me”. They met in Amernia when Laura was travelling in October 2018. Whilst chatting over food and drinks after completing a marathon, Marc explained that he was a triathlete. Laura invited him to do Ironman Tenby and showed him photos of Wales. In the following September (2019) Marc got a place to do Ironman Wales and Laura hosted him, booked them a hotel, and watched him compete. Laura explains that she was swept up in the excitement of the day and was so inspired by watching Marc and other triathletes. Two weeks later Laura joined Pen-y-bont Tri Club.
So, Laura joined Pen-y-bont Tri Club having not swum for twenty years and not having cycled a mountain bike since she was sixteen. She tells the story of buying a bike in January 2020, going on her first club ride and falling off before she had even left the carpark. She said she cried for the whole ride because she was so slow, she didn’t understand the gears and didn’t know how to clip out of her cleats. After this she had a big strop and thought she had chosen the wrong sport. However, soon after this the pandemic hit and as there were no cars on the road, Laura used this time to cycle every day after work and built up her fitness. Sadly, all of Laura’s 2020-2021 races were cancelled, as was the case with many others.
In August 2020 Laura fell off of her bike when training in Swansea, she hit the floor hard and broke her collarbone. However, she said that little did she know this saved her life! She was placed on medication (painkillers) which in turn made her constipated, a common side effect. After a few weeks of not going to the toilet, Laura eventually went and found blood in her stools. She brushed this off, thinking it was normal due to the straining. After another few weeks, Laura thought “this can’t be right” and went to see her GP. She explained about the bleeding and that her mum had bowel cancer twelve years ago (aged sixty), so she was aware of the bowel cancer symptoms. An examination took place and a blood test for bowel cancer (in the UK, you don’t get tested under the age of sixty as this is considered an old person’s cancer). This test came back negative. A few months later, Laura asked her GP for further tests as she had developed a further three symptoms and was concerned. They tested for IBS/IBD which also came back negative. Due to it allegedly not being cancer, Laura was placed on a less urgent list. She asked for more tests again and was sent to hospital on the 23rd of July 2021 (eleven months after she had her first symptom) to have a sigmoidoscopy (similar to a colonoscopy) to find out if she had Colitis or Crohn’s disease.
Laura opted not to be sedated during this procedure as she wanted to drive back to work afterwards. She saw a mass of black on her rectum walls but didn’t suspect anything because she had been told she didn’t have cancer. They took biopsies and then Laura passed out due to the pain. When she woke, the doctor held her hand and said “I’m so sorry Laura, you have rectal cancer”. Laura explained “at that very moment, my whole life collapsed before my eyes. I didn’t want to accept it, I couldn’t accept it, I was in shock. I turned to face the wall because in my eyes if I couldn’t see the doctor then it wasn’t happening, it wasn’t real, but it was”. She was so hysterical that they had to call her dad and she had to break the news to him. Laura collapsed in his arms and apologised for having to put him through this again, after he’d been through it with her mum.
In November 2021, Laura started five days of radiotherapy to try to shrink her tumour as they wouldn’t operate on it at the size that it was. She then had a two week break before starting six cycles (five months) of chemotherapy. Laura made a list of her side effects from chemo and counted 53 side effects! She describes it as “horrific” and she wouldn’t wish it on her worst enemy.
In May 2022, she had a scan to see if her radiotherapy and chemotherapy had worked. Luckily, the treatment had reduced the tumour dramatically and it was now small enough to operate. One of the medics told Laura that the fact she kept fit throughout her treatment really helped. She trained harder at this time than ever before. She was putting on a brave face but she was physically and mentally exhausted and would get home and collapse on the floor, where she’d stay and cry for hours. She explained that the week after each chemo cycle was the hardest and some days she would just lay on the sofa crying and not have the energy to change the tv channel or allow any visitors. However, Laura always had the mindset of ‘in two to three weeks when I’m feeling better, I’ll train like crazy’. And she did.
In April 2022, two weeks after her last chemo cycle, Laura went with her Tri club to cycle the first forty miles of the Ironman course in Tenby. This was a massive achievement! Then in May, Laura had her major nine hour operation to remove the tumour and lymph nodes that the cancer had spread to. She had a temporary ileostomy (stoma) bag fitted to give her rectum a chance to recover. This operation hit her hard and she was really unwell afterwards. She didn’t/couldn’t eat for fifteen days and within two weeks had lost two and a half stone in weight.
Five weeks after her major operation, Laura was back training again. She had to build herself back up from rock bottom. Within a week, she was completing a relay race (Monmouth Aquathlon) with her friend Neil from Pen-y-bont Tri Club. She did the swim and he did the run. Laura got the fastest female swimmer that day and they got 2nd place overall, only being beaten by a few meters. Laura’s motivation here is admirable; to be getting back into training and competing so soon after her operation. Four days after this race, Laura completed her first solo aquathlon (Parc Bryn Bach). She was the fastest female in the swim, 2nd in her age category and 10th female overall. In
August, she also completed her first 5K running race and came 3rd overall and 1st female.
Finally on the 18th of September, after three years of training due to the pandemic and the cancer, Laura completed her first ever Triathlon, finishing the Newport Sprint in 1 hour and 20 minutes. She got the fastest female swim, 8th female overall and 2nd in her age category. This was a massive accomplishment for Laura.
On the 28th of September, Laura had her second operation to reverse her stoma. Her surgeon said that it was difficult to cut through the scar tissue as she had healed so well due to her fitness. She started cycling (turbo) at the end of October and she started running a week later. She couldn't swim for a long time after due to the hole in her stomach.
The cancer forced Laura to cancel and/or postpone all of her triathlon plans until September last year. This made her very bitter and angry and she needed someone to blame. She threw herself into triathlon to give her something to aim for. Laura had to pick herself up from rock bottom fitness wise, a total of eleven times due to six rounds of chemotherapy, one round of radiotherapy, one round of IVF, IVF egg collection and two operations. During all of these treatments, Laura trained throughout and only missed eight weeks of training throughout the nine months. She had to make excuses for these as she had kept her diagnosis a secret from everyone apart from her parents and two best friends.
Due to this, and due to everything that Laura has been through, she has decided to make 2023 ‘her year’. In June 2022, Laura was given the fantastic news that she is in remission, that the cancer has gone. We are elated to hear this and so happy for Laura. She has already entered seven races so far for 2023! One of the events being Ironman 70.3 Swansea. Laura explained that cancer has made her a stronger person, physically and mentally. The pain that she will face during a half Ironman will be nothing compared to what she has already experienced. She says she is thankful that she is alive and that she has the “opportunity to smash her goals, make new dreams and start living again”.
Laura says that her biggest support, apart from her family and best friends, has definitely been her Tri club. She explains that they saved her. They gave her focus and encouragement. She talks about the close friends she has there who have saved her from a very dark place, along with the support of the committee, the coaching team, and the members. She says, “if I didn’t have the Tri club I would have given up on myself a long time ago, they don’t know it, but they have been instrumental in my recover and survival”.
Laura ends with “I didn’t realise it until I got cancer, but it turns out I am more resilient and stronger than I ever knew”. She explains that she will continue to raise awareness for bowel cancer, especially in young people which is underreported, because she doesn’t want anyone to have to go through what she experienced. She says if continuing to raise awareness by talking about bowel cancer or talking about poo saves one person’s life then her work is done.
