Pop superstar Stan An ‘inspiration’ for Gran’s cancer battle Stan really is such a spiritual, amazing man with a wonderful gift.’
A year after her lifesaving surgery, Val Williams gets to finally thank Stan Walker for helping her through her ordeal. Rachael Comer
WHENVal Williams was diagnosed with cancer, her surgeon broached the sensitive subject by asking if she knew who Stan Walker was.
‘‘I said ‘I know of him. I’ve seen him on television’. He said ‘unfortunately you have cancer and you have to have the operation like he had’.’’
After the diagnosis of adenocarcinoma in the oesophagus, Williams had surgery to remove her stomach on November 18, 2019.
Walker had the same operation in 2017, and became an inspiration to the 75-year-old Timaru grandmother.
As she went through chemotherapy and a complete overhaul to her diet, Williams took strength from the pop superstar’s painfully honest account of his own journey back from surgery.
She began corresponding with Walker’s agent and this week, a year to the day after her surgery, met Walker when he spoke in Christchurch while promoting his book Impossible: My Story.
‘‘You’ve got the same haircut as me,’’ Williams joked as they chatted ahead of his show.
‘‘You look really well,’’
Walker said as Williams told him it was the first anniversary of her surgery and laughed that having ‘‘your puku cut out’’ was the easiest way to lose weight.
Williams said it was an ‘‘honour’’ to meet someone who had helped her fight her way back to good health.
‘‘I am just so happy I have got to meet Stan. He really is such a spiritual, amazingman with a wonderful gift.’’
Williams’ battle began while she wasworking as a carer. ‘‘It all started when I had a fall in the dark up a driveway, and ended up in hospital.’’
After recovering, her GP told her she was still worried.
‘‘She said ‘you’re anaemic – there’s something else going on’.’’
She was eventually diagnosed with cancer several weeks later.
Williams said she knew Walker’s surgery had been documented and so started watching what he’d been through. She said that his story had helped. ‘‘Stan really has been an inspiration to me since the start.’’
Williams also had extensive chemotherapy before the surgery and two rounds after. And despite some complications following the surgery, she is now cancer-free, a daily gym visitor and is enjoying getting on with life.
‘‘The diet part of having this surgery is one of the hardest things. Finding a new way of eating has been hard. I can’t have dark meat now. If you’re diagnosedwith amajor health issue, the best thing is to try to remain positive and healthy.
‘‘Keep active. You can’t sit around thinking negatively. There are a lot of people worse off than me.’’
StanWalker shared his own cancer journey with Sunday News in 2018 in a searingly open series of interviews.
He told how his family has an aggressive CDH1 hereditary mutation, which means they have an 80 per cent chance of getting stomach cancer.
‘‘I’ve watched so many people die in front of me. Over half the coffins in our marae are from cancer,’’ he said.
But Walker also shared the lighter side of the disease, joking about the accompanying weight loss.
‘‘I mean, I’ve been waiting to get skinny for ages, but s..., they could have left my bum andmy shoulders.’’