20 year old running marathon even after Stage 3 cancer diagnosis
Eli Black was taken off a chemotherapy drip on a Thursday, and by Saturday morning he was running the Gold Coast Half-Marathon. And as his treatment continues, he’s preparing to push himself even further for a good cause.
Eli Black knows what it’s like to have his world flipped upside down in an instant, from daily runs to daily chemo drips.
Since being diagnosed with stage 3 advanced Hodgkin’s lymphoma in February, the 20-year-old athlete has gone from constant running, swimming, and working out to spending days where he can barely get out of bed.
Thought to be a lingering infection from tonsillitis, Mr Black noticed a lump in his neck which he initially brushed off.
The last thing Mr Black and his family were expecting was a cancer diagnosis.
“Hearing you have cancer at 20 is a complete shock,” he said.
“It just flips your world upside down, everything just came to a grinding halt.”
His mum Bobbie Black said there was nothing that could have prepared her for the news.
“It was like our world collapsed. To sit there and be told that your kid has cancer, it was hard,” she said.
“If I could have swapped spots, I would have.
“Any mum would.”
Ms Black said they had no time to process the diagnosis.
“They wanted to start chemo the next day,” she said.
“Then it was the whole fertility issues and the hospital set up fertility appointments.
“It was a lot to process.”
Already signed up for the Gold Coast Half-Marathon and Sydney Marathon, Mr Black was determined to keep running throughout his 12 rounds of chemotherapy.
He said while he had bad days undergoing his treatment, but couldn’t help but think of the people who had it worse.
He decided to turn his running into a fundraiser.
“I mean I have cancer but there’s definitely people that are doing a lot worse than I am,” he said.
“So I guess that kind of pushed me to start the fundraiser, for the people who can’t go outside and exercise as much as I can.”
His goal is to run 450 km in recognition of the 450 people in Australia that are diagnosed with cancer each day, on average.
Mr Black has the goal of raising $21,000 for his 21st birthday, which coincides with the day he is set to run the Sydney Marathon.
He said the week before the Gold Coast Half-Marathon was one of the toughest weeks, and he wasn’t sure he would be able to do the race.
“My heart rate was super high, I couldn’t really run,” he said.
“My legs felt super heavy and I didn’t want to pull out, but it felt like I had to.
“I gave myself the motivation and kept going throughout the next week.”
Bobbie said she was amazed to see her son even standing at the start line.
“There’s not going to be too many people out there who just came of chemo who are out there running a half-marathon,” she said.
“Seeing him come through the finish line was incredible. He could have done it in five hours and we would have been just as proud.”
Mr Black ran the half-marathon in 2 hours and 7 minutes.
Ms Black said although running wasn’t often recommended for people undergoing cancer treatment, she saw a huge difference in her son when he slowly started running again.
“We found that he was much better off if he was exercising, he was happier and recovered faster from his treatments,” she said.
“He was more like himself.
“We kind of said do it, but do it safely, slow down a little bit.”
Mr Black will finish his 12th round of chemotherapy on July 31.
Although his most recent PET scan came back with a positive result, the Black family are holding their breath.
They know no matter the result, it will likely still be a tough few years ahead.
“It’s hard to keep positive,” Mr Black said.
“The next few years will be a long journey, there will be constant PET scans and more blood tests and more visits to the hospital.
“So that’ll be the next five years, we’re assuming until I get told I’m in remission,” he said.
“I’m glad that it was me rather than anyone else, you don’t want to see anyone else like that.”
To donate to Eli’s fundraiser, click here.
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