Teen sprints past health setback

Geraldine sprinter Jaffar Nuru isn’t quite in top form four months after conquering a brain tumour, but he’s already got his 100 metres down to 13 seconds.

The 17-year-old will compete in the 100m and 400m, discus, long jump, and shot put at Geraldine High School’s athletics sports next week, a year after undergoing a 13-hour surgery to remove the tumour.

At his peak, Jaffar could sprint 100m in 11 seconds – though it was the 400m he loved best, where his time had slipped from 52 seconds pre-tumour to 70 seconds.

‘‘It’s disappointing that I’m not back to what I was, but I feel confident I will get there,’’ he said.

It wasn’t until late December that Jaffar could even sprint again. He would return to his family after a run and express his frustrations. ‘‘They kept encouraging me. I didn’t believe them at first but once I achieved it, I was so ecstatic,’’ he said.

Jaffar was diagnosed with a brain tumour after crashing his car into a creek minutes from his Geraldine home in February 2018.

He already had a scan booked for August after going deaf in his left ear but the crash made the situation urgent and within days he was in Christchurch Hospital for surgery. It was not until October, after months of chemotherapy, that he returned to the family home – now in Hinds.

Father Raj lost his job of 10 years at a Mayfield farm due to an outbreak of mycoplasma bovis.

He later secured work in Ashburton, but the decision was made to move to Hinds so Jaffar could return to Geraldine for his final year of high school.

His father had since been reinstated at the farm, he said.

Jaffar started back at school about a month ago and while his energy was sapped by Friday each week, he had enjoyed the return to the mundane.