With a rather rough start in life, Roleen Barnard (45) had to deal with even more struggles as a grown-up, yet she is far from giving up and still keeps fit through it all.
In 2013 after a failed relationship, the mother of two grown-up daughters found fitness. She adds as a child she always turned to sports to get away from life’s difficulties. She notes CrossFit became her way of living. She left all her bad habits behind and started focusing on doing well in the sport.
However in 2020, while on a family getaway for her birthday, she became ill. She went to a hospital and was misdiagnosed with an abscess on her pelvis. After six months, while busy with a CrossFit competition, she noticed she was struggling and called her doctor, saying she thinks the abscess may have returned. He then sent her for a colonoscopy after which she was referred to a doctor in Pretoria. He knew something wasn’t right so he kept testing her. After the third biopsy, they discovered cancer in her colon, but they couldn’t establish how far along it was. After more tests, they discovered the cancer had spread to her liver and her lungs whereby another doctor realised the cancerous mass had to be removed.
They took it out along with the lymph nodes. After 11 days in the hospital, she went back to her fit and active lifestyle. She received 12 sessions of chemo for six months, after which she was informed she is in remission. But after three months she noticed a bump on her back. Tests were done, whereby the doctor informed her the tumour is back, once again in her colon.
She once again received the same cycle of chemo, which she finished in January. In February she started experiencing strange pains and after testing they discovered the cancer had spread to her ovaries and her uterus. While the doctors worked out a new treatment plan, the tumour grew and blocked her rectum. After three days in the hospital and with pain medications, she decided to discharge herself. One of the doctors then had a look at her file and asked her to come back.
“He looked at my file and started crying and told me it would be a very big surgery to remove the tumour. But I was up for the task,” Roleen recalled.
“I went in for the surgery and the doctor cut me open and just closed me up again, it was chaos,” she said.
She went home again and after a few days, noticed something was different. She explains she didn’t want to go back to the hospital as she was set to get married that Saturday.
At her reception she informed her new husband something wasn’t right, so she got in touch with the nurse they assigned to her. That night the nurse called her doctor and told him to get a bed ready for Roleen.
“In the hospital, the tumour in my stomach burst and the doctors couldn’t operate. They then phoned my daughters to come to say goodbye to me. That night my daughters arrived at the hospital with their pillows and their blankets, to spend the night with me and say goodbye,” Roleen said with tears in her eyes.
She noted they didn’t think she would make it through the night, but she did. Unfortunately, about two days later they did more scans and tests and discovered sepsis. She was then sent to the ICU, where they once again informed her daughters to come say goodbye.
“My kids stood around my bed, held my hand and cried and I just laid there,” Roleen stated.
She was then taken to a special ward and added there she had to rest and come to terms with what is happening. But for some reason, she got better and eventually, noticed she could get up on her own and, even though with difficulty, she could go to the bathroom by herself.
With time she was able to go home and she believes when you are among family, you get better which is what happened. She is still in palliative care.
Roleen continued to say, “I have doctors’ forms stating I’m dying, but here I am, alive today. I am back on chemo, I’ve had radiation. I still feel rather ill, my stomach doesn’t feel very well. I don’t know how long I am going to live, but for now, I am embracing every day. The doctors told my children it would go like this, one moment your mom will look as though she’s fine and the next she might not be here anymore.”
Through it all, she still keeps fit and healthy and keeps living. She still exercises every day and her friends from CrossFit still support her since her house is full of flowers which they sent to her.
“It’s only by the Grace of God that keeps me going despite all my challenges. These days I look for the small blessings in my life whenever things start to get difficult,” she concluded, saying she listens to the birds sing or feels the sun shining on her face, which is a blessing from God.
