Iain Ward was told he’d be dead in a year – so why does he feel so alive?
The 35-year-old fitness trainer, who had worked a lifetime to keep clean and healthy, saw his world come crashing down after a shock diagnosis of terminal brain cancer in 2019.
But instead of giving up, the grim news inspired him, he said, to live as fully and meaningfully as he could, running marathons and raising money for research.
“I have a short shelf life. It came to me like hands, but there are ways I can use it,” Ward told The Post.
The unlucky Irishman, who now lives in London, revealed that within hours of receiving the painful diagnosis, he began researching how a person could make money from the marathon. He was inspired to learn that one runner had at one point raised $3 million through corporate sponsorships – but he was sure he could do better and hoped to break a world donation record.
And so, he’s been full speed ahead since Day 1, or as fast as one can while undergoing cancer treatments. As a man on a mission, Ward has now participated in 15 marathons, even if he sometimes ends up walking.
“The whole point of it [is] doing things they are not [typically] stereotype for people with cancer,” he said. “The things that make people say, ‘Hey wait a minute, he shouldn’t do that! He is supposed to be in a bed, being sad.’
The former gaming influencer — Ward proudly sports the Rebellion symbol from Star Wars as a tattoo — has also become something of a social media hero, gaining 5.5 million followers on TikTok and another 6.7 million on Instagram. Friends started calling him the “King of Chemo” – and the Internet soon became his loyal subject.
But for this accidental royal, the crowning achievement will come in November, when Ward will run seven races in seven days on seven continents — including the NYC Marathon — to rally more people to his noble cause, even as the clock ticks. . out loud every month.
“The doctors initially said I have about five years to live and we’ve got a year to go,” Ward shrugged.
courtesy of Iain Ward
“We’re going to Antarctica, sleeping on the plane.”
Running to chemotherapy
The healthy gym habit was blindsided by the bad news. Doctors noticed signs of a tumor while examining him for a medical test and it turned out to be fatally malignant.
While the fight against cancer has been anything but easy, the same goes for long distance racing and each day brings its own set of unique challenges.
But Ward had an advantage, early on – his ultimate physical ability.
“During chemotherapy, I was actually running, cycling to the hospital seven miles from my house,” he said. “There have been peaks and valleys, but I have worked. It’s been fun.”
The worst lows so far have come at times when he was receiving radiotherapy – which threatened to put him on the spot.
“I was continuing my fitness regularly, running, but I started falling down sometimes. I was getting slower,” he said.
But Ward said he turned to the “Rocky” legend for inspiration — clinging to the idea of keeping going, even if there were days he’d be walking instead of running.
“I knew I could get this back. So that motivated me,” he said.
And when it comes to marathons, he openly admitted it hasn’t been “like the Olympics.”
“The best I’ve done recently was in Edinburgh. [and] I stopped a lot of times just to walk,” Ward admitted.
Doctors’ original forecasts meant he had a year to live – but recent scans are giving him hope of more time, he said.
So far, he’s raised about $500,000, saying he’s not focused too much on breaking records at this point.
But he continues to add marathons to his calendar – even as his so-called senior year draws to a close.
“I don’t know, maybe on Christmas Eve, I might be like, I’m telling you, I’ll run another one,” he said.
“Who’s gonna stop me?”
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Image Source : nypost.com
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