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My name is Ted Poulter. I'm just over 66 years old and I live in Battersea
in South West London and I'm suffering from a rather rare cancer of the large sheath,
which covers the internal organs of the abdomen.
I was diagnosed with the cancer in October 2009 and underwent surgery
in November of the same year. I think it's very understandable that patients who have cancer,
particularly as they're coming out of treatment, may have some concerns about exercise,
particularly about overdoing it, but I do think that regular exercise
is an essential part of the recovery and using a little and often, building up the
exercise bit by bit, is the way to go.
Before I had the cancer I was physically active, not from a sporting point of view, but much more through
activities of daily living. For example, I would cycle at least an hour, maybe
as much as an hour and a half a day. I'd been advised before going in to surgery to try and get myself as fit as possible,
because obviously the fitter you are the better you're going to be able to tolerate the surgery.
In the run up to the surgery I found taking exercise very, very beneficial,
not only in a physiological way in terms of the physical effects of the exercise,
but it gave me a feeling that I was doing something for myself -
perhaps taking control under circumstances where one feels like one's losing control
because one has been given this rather frightening diagnosis. When I started getting out and about again
it was a little bit daunting. What used to trouble me particularly was crowds.
I was fairly frail, my balance wasn't absolutely perfect, and the idea
of walking through large crowds did make me quite nervous.
From being frail I used two forms of exercise, one of which was cardiovascular exercise,
simple exercise of walking, and the other thing - because I'd suffered a lot of muscle wasting -
was strength training. That really helped me build up the confidence,
got me out and about much more, enabled me to get back to work,
establish a more normal lifestyle, and now actually confident enough
to fulfill one of my aims in life, and so I've bought myself a sailing boat.
This evening I'll be taking part in an event in Regent's Park called The 5K Your Way.
This is a five kilometre race, but I don't think people should be intimidated by that, because I'm going to walk it.
Brisk walking of five kilometres has got enormous health benefits
and I think also being with other people taking part in an event like this,
it really is uplifting, builds the confidence and [Ted looks at his watch]
I'd better get going!
For information, advice, or if you just want a chat, call the Macmillan Support Line
on 0808 808 00 00 or visit Macmillan.org.uk
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