'My life was over, I thought I was going to die'
What you are about to read is a raw, emotional, and remarkable window into a journey that has led a 1990 Commonwealth Games gold medallist to now view life much differently than most.
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If someone cuts in front of Glenn McLeay when he’s looking for a carpark these days, you won’t see any anger.
He’ll do a loop around the block and try again. Without the angst that others might possess.
If he duffs a shot during a round of golf McLeay will shrug his shoulders and look forward to the next shot.
The 1990 Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning cyclist has a newfound outlook on life.
What you are about to read is a raw, emotional, and remarkable window into a journey that has led the 1992 and 1996 Olympian to view life much differently than most.
In March 2022 McLeay took part in GODZONE - New Zealand’s premier adventure race at that time.
Teams of four would hike, bike, kayak, and pack raft for up to nine days covering around 600km in an ultimate test of navigation and survival.
McLeay was wrecked - in comparison to his teammates.
That sluggishness stayed with him following the event, for six weeks or so.
McLeay put it down to being in his mid-50s and coming off such a cruelling challenge that would test anyone.
Then came a sore hip, followed by a sore back, before it all came to a head.
“One Sunday morning I woke up and couldn’t walk, couldn’t crawl. I said to [wife] Jodi; ‘I can’t live like this, take me to hospital’.”
It was May 15, 2022 - a shocking day that threw him and his family’s life into a spin.
The former Southland Sportsperson of the Year was diagnosed with cancer - stage four melanoma - and he was staring death head-on.
The father of three daughters was told he had two or three weeks to live. He was told cancer treatment would take three to six weeks before it started to have any effect.
“I didn’t have that sort of time.”
“You take it pretty hard; you take it with disbelief. You think; ‘I’m fit’ and then all of sudden [cancer] is all through my body.”
“When it happened, my life was over. I never gave up hope, but I thought I was going to die. My liver was failing.
“I desperately wanted to live, but you think it’s over. I just thought there was no way out of this.”
It prompted a fair bit of reflecting as McLeay tried to deal with the message that he had weeks to live.
“I analysed my life over and over. I had no regrets, there was nothing I wished I had done or could have done. I have lived a life where I have done everything I wanted to do, pretty much.
“You look at your family and have conversations with your children that we all probably think about but never had. So, you actually have those conversations. You tell them you love them.
“You talk to friends; you don’t know if that is going be the last time you talk to someone.”
McLeay had health insurance. He was able to tap into private health care and some unfunded drugs in New Zealand.
He had a crack at treatment.
McLeay suggested to his oncologist he was chasing remission. Although he was told; ‘Glenn, let’s just try to extend your life’.
What transpired is what McLeay labels a “miracle”.
“The first thing is I made it past three weeks, so I had lived longer than I thought I would.
“I set little goals, and at about six weeks I had about a 15 percent reduction in my tumours size, and they were expecting up to about 4 percent growth at that stage.”
By 12 weeks that tumour reduction figure had reached between 30 and 40 percent.
“I knew it was going well, but I didn’t know if that would buy me an extra six months or a year or two, that was never part of the discussion.”
By December 2022 there were no signs of cancer in his body. He was in remission. That “miracle” he had hoped for, but didn’t expect, had arrived.
“I’m probably one of the luckiest unlucky people,” McLeay says reflecting on his journey.
“There is still a chance it could come back, and I’m monitored, but I have had that miracle.”
McLeay is a rarity, in terms of clawing his way back from pretty much saying his goodbyes.
The enormity of where McLeay once was, is hammered home when he now takes a look at some of the medical letters sent to him soon after his diagnosis.
At that time, he was unable to focus enough to read those letters. His wife Jodi had to deal with that.
One letter, which McLeay has since read, is particularly confronting.
“It was advised I was to be in palliative care. I was registered with Hospice.”
It’s hardly surprising that McLeay now views life through a much different lens.
“I’ve always been an intense competitor and I always want to win, but I’m now not phased if it goes bad. If I’ve had a bad day, life goes on.”
McLeay now thinks back to taking on that 600km GODZONE adventure race in 2022.
How anyone can complete such a taxing event at the best of times is a head-scratcher. But completing it while his body was riddled with cancer is bordering on insane.
Even if McLeay never knew that at the time.
“I was absolutely wrecked, but I just thought I’m getting older, that’s what happens.
“Someone said, ‘how did you do it?’, I said; ‘one foot in front of the other’.”
McLeay carved out a glittering cycling career which saw him attend two Commonwealth Games and two Olympics.
He won Commonwealth Games gold in 1990 in Auckland and finished just short of a bronze medal in the points race at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
They are the sort of achievements that are intertwined with a whole heap of determination, stubbornness, and drive.
They are the traits that have been mirrored as McLeay has gone about regaining his strength - physically and mentally.
“I’d lost all my muscle; I’d faded away to skin and bone and lost all my fitness.”
“You start from scratch again. Jodi had to help me dress myself for a while, I wasn’t even capable of doing that.
“Then I got to walking around the block, which was 800m, and even that was an effort.
“Now I’m playing golf regularly and I’m playing 18 holes. When I started playing, I played five holes in a buggy, and I was wrecked for three days.
“I eventually got to nine holes, and I was wrecked each time after it for three days. I would sleep and wouldn’t do anything else.
“But overall I was improving every time. I also started swimming and it took me 35 minutes to swim a kilometre, struggling. Now I swim 2km in that time quite comfortably. But it has taken over a year to build up to that.”
McLeay says there have been lasting effects from the treatment, suggesting he’s now “almost albino”.
He’s lost a lot of the colour in his skin and has to be very cautious when out in the sun.
His hair has also gone from a flicker of grey to fully grey, and he now wears sunglasses much more regularly to avoid the increased harshness on his eyes.
But the 55-year-old points out that all of that is better than what the alternative option for him could have been.
McLeay believes there are probably a few reasons why he has survived when the medical experts had the odds well and truly stacked against him.
He feels determination played a part, but he pointed out that a key reason was that his body “responded incredibly well” to the drugs.
He acknowledges others, who are in similar circumstances, are not as fortunate.
McLeay has now linked with the Cancer Society as an ambassador for the April 13 Relay for Life fundraising event at ILT Stadium Southland.
He says he and his family have received an overwhelming amount of support throughout his journey and he wants to do his part to help out where he can.
“The most incredible thing for me was my family and my friends. But not just my friends, other people I knew that were so good for support to me and my family.
“Just the incredible support I had from the community.
“It’s given me the belief now that a majority of people are actually good-willed and good-hearted, and they actually want to do the right thing by people and help where they can.
“People are incredibly generous. It’s that sort of support that helps.”
The Relay for Life event will take place over 12 hours from 10am to 10pm on Saturday, April 13, 2024.
Organisers have an ambitious fundraising target of $130,000.
There are 89 sites available for teams, so interested teams are urged to get in quick. For more information and to register, visit https://relayforlife.org.nz/o/southland-relay
Thanks for sharing your amazing story.
What an amazing story!