HOW TERMINAL CANCER DIAGNOSIS LED KEVIN TO START RUNNING ULTRAS

Diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in 2014, Kevin Webber was given as little as two years to live.

Fast forward six years to 2020 and this fearless 55-year-old continues to defy doctors, using an ultrarunning bucket-list as his inspiration to fulfil dreams and raise awareness.

Since the diagnosis Kevin, who wears only INOV8 shoes, has chalked up 50+ marathons and ultra-distance events, including four consecutive completions of the brutally tough Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert.

The married dad-of-three, who remains on an energy-sapping and muscle-wasting drug regime, has also raced in Cambodia, Jordan, Albania and other countries, plus he pulled a sledge across frozen lands in the 6633 Artic Ultra.

This year would have been his fifth Marathon des Sables – and also would have made him the only person to run the event that many times with stage 4 cancer – but the coronavirus pandemic forced the race to be postponed.

Instead Kevin decided to replicate the race by running the equivalent distance of 140 miles in his back garden and round his house in Epsom, England. That meant an incredible 2,700 laps, which he completed over the space of seven days during lockdown.

Kevin, who first started running in his early 20s, said: “I feared my life was already over when I first got the incurable diagnosis and was told I had two years. I thought I’d have 12 months of treatment and then 12 months of slowly going downhill.

“My blood test score had been 342. Anything higher than a score of 3 or 4 at my age would have meant possible prostate cancer. My dad, who lived to 87, had curable prostate cancer and at the peak his score was 12.

“After the first chemo session I went to bed thinking that this was the beginning of the end. The next morning, however, changed everything. I woke up feeling rubbish but decided to go for a run in the rain. My wife looked at me in horror and tried to talk me out of it. I’d be lying if I said it was easy, but I managed a defiant three-mile jog. I came home exhausted and feeling sick, but at the same time elated.

“I then completed the Brighton and London marathons on weeks 13 and 15 of chemo. They were my slowest-ever times, but I did it. After that I started putting together a bucket-list of races and it all went from there.

“Doctors have advised me against things and questioned my sanity. But, as I tell them, even if I’m dying on the inside, on the outside I still want to try and live. I know how precious each day is and I want to live each one to the full.

“Both my oncologist and I believe my running is helping keep me alive, so I will keep doing it as long as I can.”

In total Kevin has run about 10,000 miles in the last six years, while also working light duties for NatWest, the bank he’s been employed by for almost four decades.

This month (October) he set himself a new challenge – to run 32km (almost 20 miles) every day, raising awareness of statistics that show on average 32 men in the UK die every day because of prostate cancer. An injury has unfortunately cut that challenge short, though Kevin may attempt it again in a later month.

Looking ahead to 2021, Kevin hopes to race abroad again, including that fifth trip to the Sahara, plus ultramarathons in Bhutan and Spain, though much of course will depend on the on-going coronavirus pandemic.

The inspirational runner: “The side effects of my treatment gradually build up; fatigue, nausea, hot flushes, moobs, severe joint pain and muscle wasting are the main ones. I rarely sleep for more than four hours a night due to the drugs, but I guess that just gives me more waking hours to run or plan my runs!

“We all have two lives. The second one begins when you realise that you only have one. Get out there, dream big, and make the most of it. I know I will continue to do so.”

Kevin has raised, through various online channels, over £200,000 for charity since his diagnosis and was recently awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s birthday honours list for his services to Prostate Cancer UK. Please visit his current fundraising page.

He said: “I was unlucky because as soon as I had symptoms it was too late, but generally if a man sees a doctor when they first get symptoms they can be cured. 1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer. The classic symptom is the need to urinate frequently, but you’re also at higher risk if you are black or have a family history of prostate cancer. Please, if you or someone you know feels any change below the waist see a doctor immediately. It may just save a life.”

*Watch Dead Man Running, a short film by Richard Alexander about Kevin and his journey.

*Kevin says he wears only INOV8 trail running shoes and road running shoes because they “are so responsive, and suit the shape of my feet and running gait.” His favourites are the ROADCLAW 275 and TRAILTALON 290.