March for Men Battersea Park

What a great day, last sundays March for Men chaity event, was, has it been a week already, the time is flying so fast lately. Is it I wonder the thought that my time on earth is going to be cut shorter than I perhaps wanted it to be that makes it now go so fast. Dont waste time its so precious, believe me. I sometimes think of all of those times where minutes, hours, and even days where blatantly wished away, now I just want that time back.

So here is a short account of last sun day, a day I had been really looking forward to and it didnt dissapoint me. Today I joined thousands of people who all showed up to support their dad’s brothers uncles cousins partners and friends to join forces and show prostate cancer what we are made of. The journey to the event was as smooth as it could possibly be, just two trains from Rochester and I was in battersea Park in about one and a half hours, which considering my Navigational skills on public transport is nothing short of a miraculous😄

There was a choice of walking 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️🚶 2.5 km, 5km or 10km. I went for the 10km walk which was 4 laps of Battersea Park. The weather was pretty much as perfect as could be, not too hot and not too cold. The walk started around about 12.15 after some very emotional stories told on stage from guys with the disease which at times found me hiding the tears that were falling. I was a part of each story, i know exactly how they felt. I find myself extremely emotional these days and it really doesn’t take much to open the floodgates thanks to the hormone therapy, in fact my last chat with my oncologist she said that im basically chemically changing into a women , that explains my endless obsession lately of watching the hallmark channel love stories. If you think im joking i can tell you right now im not.

Anyway i digress as usual. So at 12.15 a bit later than planned and a short countdown and a massive cheer we set off. I was walking with a lovely chap called Steve whom I had met on the walk into the park from the station, he was there with family and  friends that had come to support him. He did just the 5km and we said goodbye’s with a promise to stay in touch, I then completed the rest of the course by myself. There were thousands of people of all ages and the atmoshere was carnival like. I felt at first like I was walking on air, the mass of happy people and various live music events happening just carried me round on this wonderful feeling of togetherness. Here were thousands of us marching for one common cause, the fight to beat Prostate Cancer the number one killer of men. The black community were hugely represented on the walk and sadly the statistics show that one in four of them will be affected by this cancer as compared to one in eight white men.

I have to admit I struggled to get through the last lap, in fact I found it extremely difficult but I kept telling myself it’s easy, you can do this. By this time the masses had thinned out and there were just a few of us left out of the thousands of starters, someone told me that 11500 people had registered for the March.

I had about a third of the last lap to go, I was hurting, my right pelivis where the last of my cancer now lives was kicking off and I could feel a blister under my right foot. By this stage I probably resembled a character from one of the zombie movies😄 I waz walking now on will power and sheer bloidy mindness determined not to throw the towel in. Strangely the walk I completed from Margate to Whitstable a few months ago seemed easier despite being over three times as long. Sometimes my body is up for it and sometimes it isnt. This was to be one of those times where my mind was up to it but unfortunately my body was just not feeling good.

I saw a chap ahead of me walking with two sticks and looked like he was clearly struggling. I went passed him and then stopped and walked backed top him and asked if I could walk with him for a bit. Something inside of me didn’t want him to walk on his own. We had a short chat, it turned out that he has Parkinsons disease. He had a never say die attitude and his determination inspired me and gave me the boost that I needed. Shortly after his son joined him and I l left them to finish the walk by myself.

When I did cross the finishing line I was one of the last, many had gone so it was a bit of an anti climax for me but then I remembered why I was doing it in the first place. I received a medal 🥉 which i thought was well earned. There was no clapping and cheering that had all gone home.

I was doing this to tell my cancer that it can’t defeat me. If I had given up then cancer would have won for the day and I was determined not to let that happen. Living with cancer is such a Physcologal battle and it is one I am determined to win. Almost every day the battle goes on, it’s a fight with the mind and the body. Each time I do something like this I feel a victory has happened. I can see how having cancer can make you just give up on life. The endless round of daily medications, palative pain treatment, monthly injections and check ups and scans. But there are so many days where it is all worthwhile. The smile on my kids faces, the sounds of the birds, the sunsets, sunrises, and changes of the seasons and the good stuff that us humans do to make the world a better place all make the battle so worthwhile.

As im writing this im in hoslital again waiting for a scan that is going to be checking my bone density, my previoys scans although showing a marked reduction in the cancer had unfortunatly shown up sone abnomilies in both of my legs which they suspect is a sign of Osteoporosis, perhaps that explains why I really struggled to do the 10k last week. Whatever the outcome of this scan you can be sure that I wont be stopping doing these types of events in the future. Cancer can never be allowed to get the upperhand or I feel that will be it. I have to keep on top of it and keep showing it who is the boss.

Just remember be kind grateful and above all stay positive, these three things will give you unbelievable powers.

Love Woody ❤️