A triathlete is gearing up to take part in an epic charity challenge just six months after undergoing gruelling surgery for cancer.
Tracey Williams will be one of the hundreds of cyclists in the Jiffy’s Cancer 50 Challenge, a 50-mile ride from Cardiff to Swansea. It’s led by Welsh rugby legend Jonathan “Jiffy” Davies.
The fourth annual event on Sunday August 18th will once again raise much-needed funds for the South West Wales Cancer Centre at Singleton Hospital and Velindre Cancer Centre.
Tracey’s entry fee was paid for by friends as a birthday present a month before her surgery – their way of giving her something to aim for during her recovery.
The 62-year-old mother of one from Swansea was a civil servant for 32 years. Then she joined the NSPCC, also volunteering for the Childline School Service until she was made redundant during Covid. After that she decided to retire.
Sport has been a big part of her life since she took up running 24 years ago and triathlons a few years after that.
A member of the Celtic Tri triathlon club, Tracey took part in the first two Jiffy’s challenges. Although she missed last year’s she is excited about getting back in the saddle again after a very rough time.
“Cancer has hit our family very hard,” she said. “I lost my husband to lung cancer 24 years ago. My niece died at 22 months with brain cancer.
“That was 28 years ago. She was born two days after my son, so they were very close together. That was heartbreaking.
“I lost my mum seven years ago to cancer. My dad has had surgery to have a skin cancer removed from his head, plus he’s got prostate cancer.
“You can see why I’m so passionate about it. And you can see why I’m so relieved that I actually came out unscathed, apart from a nice little scar that goes down the length of my neck, which you can hardly see.”
While it might barely visible, that scar represents some of the most traumatic months of Tracey’s life.
It started last September when she was driving to a friend’s house, feeling under the weather. When she put her hand on her neck, she found a lump but thought she had swollen glands.
“I didn’t think any more of it. I started feeling okay again. The lump was still there, and my partner kept telling me I should see about it.
“Come last October, I got a very bad ear infection. It was agony so I thought I would make an appointment and go to the doctor and while I was there I would mention the lump.
“But they were more worried about the lump than my ears. I thought, hang on, I wasn’t expecting that.”
Tracey was referred for various scans in Morriston, Singleton and Neath Port Talbot hospitals. These confirmed secondary cancer in her lymph nodes but the primary cancer could not be identified.
“After all the scans they decided by a process of elimination that the only place it could be was at the back of my tongue. I was diagnosed with cancer on 14th December and had surgery on 9th February.”
Tracey underwent a TORS (Transoral Robotic Surgery) mucosectomy at Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales – the only place in Wales where this complex, robot-assisted procedure is carried out.
“It was the worst couple of weeks of my life. My tongue swelled up so badly I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t swallow. I bit through my tongue and ended up having further surgery to stitch it back together.
“It was just hideous. It was just one of those things I had to go through. But I was so lucky because I didn’t need any follow-up treatment.
“I’ve been called the luckiest unlucky person because they did biopsies at the time of the surgery and when I had my follow-up, they said the margins were slightly smaller than they would have liked.
“They did offer radiotherapy. But they said that if I had radiotherapy then, I wouldn’t have it to fall back on in future if the cancer came back.
“I decided not to go for it. And since then, they’ve reduced the acceptable margins, so now I’m now classed as being within the acceptable range.
“I recovered a lot quicker than I expected. I still have a few problems with my speech and my swallowing, and I can’t say anything with an r in it.
“I didn’t realise how hard it was to say prescription until I had to go and collect one. But it has improved so much. I am having speech therapy and they’ve all been brilliant.”
Remarkably, Tracey started running again three weeks after surgery. Her goal for the year, she said, was to complete her first triathlon this September. She managed that at the Barry Sprint in May.
Next, she has her sights set on Jiffy’s Cancer 50 Challenge, which she said she was determined to do this year after missing the 2023 event.
“On my birthday in January, before my surgery, the girls I cycle with said, ‘For your birthday present, we’re buying you your entry into Jiffy’s ride and we’re all going to do it with you’.
“So that was a goal that they’d set for me. For us, 50 miles isn’t really that far if I’m honest. I know it’s a big deal for a lot of people.
“We’re used to cycling a lot further, but of course I’m coming back from scratch now so it could be a big deal for me too.
“There are around 36 club members doing it with me. We’ll be cycling with red, black and silver ribbons on our bikes – our club colours – if anyone wants to give us a wave.
“Celtic Tri will provide the van to get all our bikes up there and we’ve got a coach organised to get us up there as well. That’s the issue, the logistics of getting so many people up to the start.
“But I’m really looking forward to it. I’m really excited. I just hope we have nice weather!”
