“Lions Gate Hospital has given me years of quality living.”

This Saturday in Cape Town, South Africa, globetrotter, runner and cancer survivor Nigel Deacon will embark on a 56-kilometre ultramarathon over a challenging course.

He will be joined on the run by his son Geoff and good friends Peter and Marcus. He will also be cheered on by his sister, who flew to South Africa from New Zealand for the event.

Nigel is running the marathon for two reasons: He likes a challenge and he wants to give back to the Lions Gate Hospital Oncology Department.

Cancer diagnosis

In June 2010, Nigel Deacon received bad news. Doctors detected an ocular melanoma in his right eye.  Two years later, the news was even worse. The cancer had metastasized.

“In B.C. that is considered the end,” he wrote via email from South Africa last week. “You go from stage 1 to stage 4 and no intervention is considered. People usually live for only a few months with metastasis.”

Under the care of Lions Gate Hospital’s Dr. Sasha Smiljanic and Symptom Management RN Laura Wilson and with support from the Save Your Skin Foundation, Nigel received a unique cancer treatment called ipilimumab that has extended his life. You can read about his experiences on his blog. To date, he is the first person in Canada to have received a third treatment of ipilimumab.

“Words cannot describe my gratitude to Dr. Sasha Smiljanic and Symptom Management RN Laura Wilson at Lions Gate for helping me get back on treatment when it seemed impossible,” says Nigel, who will be celebrating his 68 birthday this summer. “Lions Gate Hospital has given me years of quality living!”

Bumps on the road

Six months after he registered for hospice in 2013, Nigel went on to complete the Comrades Ultramarathon in South Africa (87 kilometres that climbed 6,000 feet into the mountains). He also started his first fundraiser for the LGH’s Oncology Department.  It raised $1,700.

Fundraiser #2

Although he’s in the midst of treatment again, he’s started a second fundraiser for the department and tying it to the Two Oceans Marathon, which is dubbed the World’s Most Beautiful Marathon.  Nigel’s fundraiser, the Two Oceans Gratitude – Support Oncology at LGH, has a goal to raise $2,000. As of Wednesday, Nigel had raised more than $1,300. Click here for more information or to donate.

“At the clinic, I am always impressed by the compassion and care that patients enjoy,” Nigel recently wrote on his blog. “This is indeed a place of healing. To celebrate my good luck in being able to attempt an ultramarathon while in the midst of treatment, and to reward this outstanding clinic for their culture of solace and mercy, I am inviting my friends to make a donation to the Lions Gate Foundation to be used by the oncology section to improve care of patients.”

Pre-race jitters

Nigel is fighting some pre-race nerves, but is feeling positive over all.

“I am confident I will finish and return to Lions Gate for the fourth and last infusion in April,” he writes. “The story is not over yet.”

Good luck Nigel! We’re all rooting for you.

RACE DAY TRACKING: Follow Nigel’s progress on Race Day by downloading the RaceTec app from iTunes or Google Play. His race number is 50337.