‘I HAD FOUR ROUNDS OF CHEMO AS A TEEN, I LOST ALL MY HAIR AND I WENT DOWN TO FOUR STONE’
WHEN Nathan Lewis had an operation to remove a tumour in his knee and insert a piece of metal from his thigh to his shin, he doubted he would ever walk again.
He spent his teenage years in a wheelchair and had to go to college with a walking stick.
But despite all the physical challenges and the long road to learning how to walk with his replacement knee, he now works as a personal trainer and has opened his own fitness studio.
Nathan, 28, from Caerphilly, said: “I only have enough confidence to talk about it now. I wouldn’t go swimming or go on holiday because I was too embarrassed of my leg.
“I had four rounds of chemotherapy as a teenager, I lost all my hair and I went down to four stone.
“The tumour was on my lower knee, just past my knee joint, and it was growing in the middle of the bone. It just felt like the feeling when you hit your funny bone and I was limping.
“I had every test I could imagine and the results came back saying it was a cancerous tumour. I remember everything about it – who told me, where I was, I remember it was a Tuesday.”
Nathan had a complete replacement of his right knee when he was just 13 years old and a piece of metal was inserted from his thigh to the middle of his shin and the knee joint was taken out.
Nathan said: “They cut all the muscles and the veins and put the metal in. It looked like a Terminator knee joint.
“I was wheelchair-bound for a good four years but the most embarrassing thing was when I was going to college and I was learning to walk so they gave me a walking stick.
“I missed out on the parties and all the things teenagers myy age could do.”
Nathan had always been a keen sportsman and was in the football and running teams att school.
But he was adamant his knee replacement and chemotherapy y would not stand in the way of f him following his dream of working in sports.
His metal knee replacement t and heart condition caused by y repeat chemotherapy doesn’t t allow him to be able to run longg distances but Nathan does work k on his muscle-building, toningg and general fitness.
And when it comes to stamina, determination and understanding pain Nathan has had his fair share.
After working as a personal trainer at Fit4less gym in Cardiff Bay he has now set up his own personal training studio, called N7 Training, in the Butetown area of Cardiff.
“I have to look after my health,” he said. “I can’t do what most personal trainers do to promote themselves, but fitness is an obsession of mine and I want to help people feel good and healthy.
“Exercise has been so important to me and I have had to learn how to adapt to what my body can and can’t do.”