Calgarian Sanjay Sachdev is an elite athlete and was at the top of his physical game when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of testicular cancer.
He had placed as the first Canadian at a 50-kilometre marathon in 2018. Weeks later, he received the life-altering news.
“I was coming off the best race I’d had and then all of a sudden, people are saying, ‘You’re sick,'” Sachdev said.
“When you feel like it’s out of your hands with something inside you that can potentially kill you, it’s pretty hard to wrap your head around.”
The 37-year-old father of two refused to let cancer define him. He’s participated in Ironmans, triathlons and ultra-marathons.
“Every day, I made sure I looked in the mirror and I would say, ‘You’re a dad, you’re a husband, you’re an athlete and you have cancer,'” Sachdev said.
“I was never going to be a cancer patient first before I was any of the things I had to be.”
A competitor for most of his life, Sachdev wanted to embrace all parts of himself, particularly the fitness part. While the powerful chemicals were running through his body during several rounds of chemotherapy, he brought in his racing bike and cycled throughout his treatments.
“It was almost my safety blanket in there and it allowed me to feel parts of me at a time when I would have lost a lot of myself,” Sachdev said.
He desperately held on to those familiar sides of himself but through the process, he discovered something new.
“I may not be fast again, but my hurt locker is really deep for when I get to race again.
“Strength isn’t lifting weights or running fast; strength is the will you know cannot be defeated. Once you start developing that, you’re going to win every day.”
Sachdev recently returned from Romania where he ran for Team Canada, placing 39th in the world. He’s in remission and is approaching his first year of being cancer-free.
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