Ain’t no mountain high enough for Durban North cancer survivor

A POSITIVE mindset is the most important factor when it comes to overcoming obstacles in life, says Durban North cancer survivor, Bala Gangiah.

Gangiah was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, after doctors found tumors in both his kidneys. One of them was malignant and his kidney had to removed.

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That, however, did not stop from Gangiah from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and walking across India to raise funds for Chatsworth Hospice.

“We often associate cancer with death and when I received my diagnosis, the first thing I thought of was if my affairs were in order. Will my family be okay? The second thing that crossed my mind was, what have I not done which I always wanted to do? ” he said.

One of the things was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro which Gangia set out to do after he was operated on in March 2018. He actually challenged his doctor and told him he would fulfill his mission.

Six months later, Gangiah summitted the highest mountain in Africa, within six days.

“My training began in hospital. When nurses came to me with a wheelchair, I opted to walk. As I recovered, I walked up a flight of stairs each day. When I got home, I would walk to the driveway and back. I created my own Kilimanjaros in my daily life,” said Gangiah.

Neither his doctor or his family approved of his plan, but Gangiah was adamant to keep the promise he had made to himself.

“I took it day by day, I didn’t train strenuously from the get-go. Ninety per cent of my recovery was in my mind. My mindset helped me get to the top of that mountain. Then I started yoga and changed my eating plans which also helped improve my kidney function,” he said.

“I had always thought of yoga as a lazy person’s way of exercising, but I was impressed at the amount of strength I gained.” READ

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In his book, What’s your Kilimanjaro?, Gangiah talks about how his fear of not climbing the mountain was stronger than his fear of actually climbing it.

“I was never going to be on my death bed or the old man on the porch without climbing Kilimanjaro,” he added.

In December 2019, Gangiah set out on his next challenge – a 575 kilometre journey on foot from Pondicherry in the east coast of India to Kochi on the west coast.

“I was so inspired by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro that I wanted to do something else. Since I was going on holiday to India, I thought I would do something there.”

Him and a friend, Jay Moodley, who is South African but lives in India, joined him on the walk. Both men collectively raised R550 000 for Chatsworth Hospice.

“Find something you want to do and dedicate it to an organisation or charity and make it your mission to complete it. ”

These are the four philosophies Gangiah adopted to overcome cancer and after six months get to the top of Kilimanjaro and cross India on foot.

* I have only two choices, I can make my problem smaller or I can make myself stronger. I couldn’t make Kilimanjaro any smaller, so I chose to make myself strong enough to climb it.

* The fear of not doing must be greater the fear of doing. My fear of not climbing Kilimanjaro was so great, that I had no option but to make myself strong enough to climb it. I did not want to end up an old man on the porch or on my death bed with a regret of having not climbed Kilimanjaro.

* The pain only lasts until you cross the finish line, but if you stop before, it lasts forever.

* We all have something incredible inside us, we must never stop till we find out what it is.