BREAKING LIMITS
Following cancer treatment, 80-year-old weightlifter looks to break bench press record
While some retirees choose to spend their time fishing, golfing or doing needle point, 80-year-old Chuck Mulligan can be spotted most days at the YMCA in Arnold with a barbell over his head, lifting an amount of weight equivalent to a small bear.
Mulligan, a Cape St. Claire resident, is a champion powerlifter. Next week, he’ll compete in an event in Columbia to qualify for the United States Powerlifting Association Championships June 10 to 14 in Las Vegas. Once there, he’s hoping to bench press 280 pounds and break the association’s national 204-pound record in his 80-84 age bracket.
On Feb. 2, Mulligan completed about three months of radiation treatment for two forms of cancer, prostate cancer and a leg sarcoma. While he feared the radiation would take him out of the powerlifting game, his doctors said continuing to be active was one of the best things he could do to remain in good health and spirits during treatment.
“A lot of times when people come for treatment, they’re expecting the worst. They’ve heard stories. They’ve read about things. They don’t know how they’re going to deal with it,” said Dr. Angel Torano, Mulligan’s radiation oncologist at Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center. “Being healthy allows you to deal with stress and trauma in the best way possible and allows you to recover faster.”
During his several weeks of treatment, he felt he was physically capable of about 70% of what he was before. His medical team tried to target the radiation as much as possible and have him come in for short, frequent treatments to be the least disruptive to his routine.
Despite the tailoring of the treatment, Mulligan still felt the effects of the radiation. He became tired and nauseous at times and ended up losing about 11 pounds from loss of appetite. Before the radiation, Mulligan was benching 285 pounds. Now he’s down to about 240 but hopes to return to 285 within the next few weeks.
“Prior to radiation, I would be in the gym [for] two hours at least four days a week. As the radiation affected me, I was dropping back to two days, three days, about an hour trying to push the weights until you just walk out. You’re tired,” he said.
Mulligan started lifting weights at age 13. His family had one of the only television sets in the area, and kids came from all over his northwest Indiana neighborhood to watch. Sometimes older kids brought their weights, and he got interested in the discipline. Soon he learned he was rather strong for a young teen. He continued the sport throughout his life, during his careers in law enforcement, real estate and while raising his four daughters.
The continued activity during radiation also helped Mulligan stay social and
maintain a positive attitude. He didn’t have to compromise the progress he’d made over the last 67 years.
“It’s a good thing they told me to stay active because you don’t want to give it up completely,” Mulligan said. “You go back in there, you’re going to be really despaired because of what you lost.”
While Mulligan’s wife of 55 years, Kathy, didn’t anticipate weightlifting being such a big part of their lives, she said her husband has always had a competitive spirit.
“He strives to be the best, and he’s good at it. He’s accomplishing something,” Kathy Mulligan said. “I’m happy for him. I think he enjoys the status.”
The sport offers him a level of recognition that’s gratifying for him. He said he enjoys young men coming up to him at the gym and admiring his lifting ability. He likes inspiring young people and changing their expectations of what aging can look like.
His daughter Emily, 40, has been consistently impressed by her father’s abilities as he ages and goes through treatment, including when he did 80 pushups for his 80th birthday last month.
“I love to brag about him,” Emily Mulligan said. “We all have time to be able to get in shape and achieve whatever health goals anyone has, even at 80 years old. If he can do it, we can all do it.”
At times on his health journey, Mulligan has doubts. He wonders if spending so much time and energy on fitness was worthwhile as he ended up getting two cancers and experienced other health issues.
“I eat right. I don’t drink much at all. I never smoked, and I try to stay in shape. I still hit these health hurdles, these illnesses. What am I gaining by doing all this?” Mulligan said. “Dr. Torano said, ‘Do you know what kind of condition you’d be in if you were going through this and you hadn’t maintained your health?’ ”
Torano said Mulligan is a model of how even an octogenarian can overcome multiple cancer diagnoses by staying active, positive, social and continuing to strive toward new goals.
“We encouraged him, but he didn’t need much encouragement,” Torano said.