Adams fights on as Mum faces cancer
FOR A MOMENT, Nicola Adams’ smile fades and her cheerful demeanour darkens.
After a five-year spell which has brought two Olympic golds and a promising start to life in the professional code, Adams’ world was turned upside down earlier this year when her mother, Dee, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Immediately for Adams, throwing punches was put into sharp perspective. ‘She’s doing well, she’s going through radiotherapy at the moment and the treatment seems to be going well, so that is why I’m back. She told me I had to do it for her,’ Adams said after winning her comeback fight in Montreal last week.
‘I took a little bit of time from boxing, had a break so I could stay with my mum and to make sure everything was OK. I need to know everything is all right for her.’ Super-flyweight Adams, 35, drew a line under her sevenmonth absence from the ring by racking up her third professional victory, beating Uruguayan Soledad Macedo.
If it was down to her, Adams would not have left her mum’s side in Leeds, but Dee was insistent that her daughter must lace up her gloves again before the year was out.
‘I wasn’t sure about boxing at all with everything going on,’ said Adams, who these days does the bulk of her training in San Francisco. ‘But it was mum who wanted me to fight. She said, “I don’t want you to think about me, I want you to fulfil your dreams and become a world champion.” So she told me to get back in the gym and back into training because she said it will be making her happy.
‘She wanted me to help raise awareness for breast cancer, so I had the logo on my shorts and my top. Now I’ve come back, focused my mind and got going again.
‘It was good to get this win to finish the year off.’
Dee raised Adams and her younger brother Kurtis alone. She took two jobs to provide for the family and Adams describes her mother as her inspiration.
Adams flew home immediately after her fight in order to spend Christmas alongside her mother. ‘I think it’s important to be with mum this Christmas more than ever.
‘As a family we always spend it together and this year for me it’s more about being thankful that my mum is still here.
‘My mum has given me even more motivation than I had before. I want to have that world title belt by next Christmas so I can celebrate with my mum. I will do everything within my power to make sure it happens for me and for us as a family.’