Talking limb loss and GB paracycling with working supermum, Sally Hurst
This week, we talk to Sally Hurst. Sally describes herself as a ‘normal, tired, middle aged working mum’. After listening to this you’ll realise she is anything but!
Aged 26 Sally was treated for osteosarcoma. This entailed cancelling her wedding to undergo a year of chemotherapy sandwiched around an above-knee amputation.
Over the next ten years Sally got married; returned to work; had two children despite being told her treatment had probably made her infertile; learnt to walk and then cycle with a prosthetic leg; and to cap it all off she ended up racing for the Great Britain para-cycling team.
12 years later Sally was diagnosed with a completely unrelated breast cancer requiring more gruelling chemotherapy and surgery.
In this episode we discuss:
- Learning to thrive after life changing surgery
- How Sally's perception of her prosthesis and her body has changed over the years
- How the 2012 paralympics was her inspiration for realising that sport was still a possibility despite her amputation
- How she fell into the world of elite sport almost by chance
- How cancer has taught her to say yes to opportunities
- How you start to cycle on a hill if you only have one leg
- How Sally dealt with being diagnosed with cancer a second time
- The practicalities of living as an amputee and the pros and cons of using a prosthesis.
Sally epitomises tenacity and resilience and what it means to ‘move against cancer’. She is self-effacing and modest to a fault.
You will come away from this conversation with an urge to ‘say yes’ to something that scares you.