Brave, Brilliant, World-beating
Cancer-mum Elouise Hemming was told to say goodbye - now she's training others to beat the odds
Four years ago Elouise Hemming was told she had only weeks to live, and it was time to say goodbye to her baby daughter.
The Aucklander’s lymphoma had returned after a year in remission; ‘‘stage four cancer, again, and it was in my stomach, in my bladder, in my colon, in my rectum,’’ she said.
Now the 28-year-old is a competitive powerlifter and selfdescribed life of the party.
When her doctor said death was nigh, Hemming replied ‘‘f... that!’’
‘‘I said that because that’s me, I fight, and that’s what I did.’’
She battled her disease and the strain of motherhood within a disintegrating relationship. When the relationship and her chemotherapy ended together, Hemming turned to the gym for direction.
She said cancer taught her to see exercise as a privilege.
‘‘Working out is uncomfortable, but that aspect gets you tougher mentally,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s helped me become a better mum and friend.’’
It also gave her a career – Hemming became a personal trainer one year after going into remission.
‘‘I get a lot of joy from seeing people get stronger,’’ she explained.
‘‘I’m not interested in the aesthetic side of things, I’m interested in making a long-term improvement – helping someone avoid old age in a nursing home, for example.’’
She is cautious about sharing her story with clients, wary some may perceive her as ‘‘guilt tripping’’.
‘‘I don’t want to be like ‘look at me, there are no excuses’.’’
‘‘It’s about inserting my experience somehow when they’re finding motivation hard.’’
The gym-junkie has also taken up powerlifting.
Despite nausea, fluid retention, and heart problems that haunt her postcancer body, Hemming can deadlift 120kg.
She competed for the first time two months ago and aims to enter the Auckland Powerlifting Championships next year.
Along with her rallying health, her housing situation has improved since she was re-ravaged by cancer.
Motherhood, powerlifting, work, and ‘‘partying enough to make up for all those sick years’’ keep her occupied – but doctors aren’t out of Hemming’s life yet.
Every few weeks for the next two years she needs blood tests to check she’s still in remission.
Asked whether she feared a third bout of cancer, Hemming gave a firm ‘‘no’’.
‘‘I prefer to practice gratitude.’’