Pretoria - When Paul Hussey was diagnosed with kidney failure and stage 4b lymphoma, few could have believed that nine years later he would return to South Africa and complete the Comrades Marathon.
“At that time in May 2014, I was only 45 but was little more than a skeleton with skin. With cachexia, a condition that causes extreme weight loss and muscle wasting, my face was gaunt, drawn and discoloured,” Hussey said.
He recalled that cancer was absolutely ravaging him, and he made a promise to himself, the universe, God, and humanity that one day he will return and run the Comrades Marathon.
On June 11, at the age of 54, Hussey fulfilled his dream of finishing the world’s oldest and largest ultra-marathon in 11 hours and 48 minutes.
He also embarked on a crowdfunding campaign to donate a much-needed dialysis machine to a public hospital in Durban.
“Regular running has been a massive part of my recovery and return to fitness, as well as learning to play the flute. I spent a lot of time in my hospital bed thinking of the Comrades.”
He said as soon as he could, he returned to running, always with one goal in mind: the Comrades, the ultimate human race.
Specialist physician Dr Prashant Parag, who practises at Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban who was Hussey’s treating doctor in May 2014, said overcoming such serious health conditions to complete the Comrades is an exceptional story of the triumph of the human spirit.
Hussey has had a transformative journey from kidney failure to malignancy and cancer treatment, to make a powerful comeback in the most inspiring way. Today he is a healthy athlete who is raising funds to help others in need of the dialysis that helped him on his journey to health.
He moved to South Africa from the UK in 2014, but his health failed soon after and he was admitted to Addington Hospital in Durban. When his kidneys failed, he was transferred to the intensive care unit at Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital for the specialised kind of dialysis needed to improve his kidney function.
A biopsy of a gland in his neck revealed Hussey had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the blood. He subsequently went back to England for treatment the day after the Comrades Marathon in 2014.
“I was in a wheelchair at the airport travelling back to the UK for medical treatment surrounded by hundreds of athletes all wearing their Comrades medals, looking super fit, and excited with that amazing sense of achievement. In that fateful moment I could not have felt further away from where they were,” Hussey recalled.
His message for people going through cancer diagnosis or treatment is not to give up, no matter what.
“Don’t give up because you never truly know what lies ahead. It helps to hold onto a goal and a vision of yourself healthy in the future.”
Paul is collecting funds to donate a portable reverse osmosis dialysis machine and other essentials to Addington Hospital.
Netcare’s corporate social investment arm, the Netcare Foundation is meanwhile donating a significant contribution. Through their fund-raising drive, the staff at the Comrades Marathon Association also decided to come on board and match the donation, resulting in Hussey now having sufficient funds to purchase the reverse osmosis dialysis machine.
Hussey said he is so grateful for how things turned out that he wanted to assist others.
Pretoria News