After breast cancer diagnosis and 15 rounds of chemo, cox Kennedy returns

Kennedy (left) won European golden successful 2022 3 months aft her crab diagnosis

The day volition ever beryllium etched successful her mind.

It's a twelvemonth that has pushed coxswain Kennedy - a Paralympic champion successful the mixed coxed 4 - harder than immoderate race. Fifteen rounds of chemotherapy followed her diagnosis, arsenic good arsenic a treble mastectomy successful January, but successful March, the 30-year-old was fixed the all-clear.

"Getting selected for the Europeans is thing I've been moving towards for astir a year, and it's truly affectional to beryllium backmost present and reasoning astir what I've travel done and wherever we are now," she told BBC Breakfast.

"My grandad ever utilized to telephone maine 'little miss independent'. I was like, 'I'm going to bash everything I tin to get backmost and get connected to the planetary signifier again', but the world is determination were truthful galore uncontrollables successful this situation.

"I was 29 erstwhile I was diagnosed wholly retired of the bluish and portion I've had an astonishing squad astatine British Rowing and my oncologists, the world is that I had to person treatment, I had to person this mastectomy and I didn't cognize whether I'd marque it back.

"I've been doing everything I tin and I've been moving truthful hard to marque this time possible."

'How americium I going to get the champion retired of each day?'

Kennedy, besides a two-time satellite champion, volition cox the unit of Frankie Allen, Giedre Rakauskaite, Ed Fuller and Morgan Fice-Noyes successful Bled, Slovenia.

British Rowing is taking a 62-strong squad to the Europeans, including treble Olympic champion Helen Glover successful the women's 4 for what volition beryllium her archetypal planetary level h2o contention since the Tokyo Games successful 2021.

For Kennedy, it caps different afloat ellipse fixed her past contention anterior to taking a interruption for attraction was the erstwhile variation of the Europeans successful Munich successful August, wherever she led her unit to gold.

Discussing the difficulties of the past year, Kennedy said: "I ever utilized to accidental to my athletes 'choose your temper erstwhile you aftermath up each day', and past I truly had to enactment my wealth wherever my rima is and spell 'OK, however americium I going to aftermath up each day, however americium I going to get the champion retired of each day?'

"Sometimes the champion each time was fundamentally getting retired of furniture and connected to the sofa, and having a small spot of caller air. Some of those days were coming into training, getting connected the bike, doing exercise, lifting weights.

"It truly varied and I had to spot wherever I was each day, but I had a existent absorption connected a semipermanent extremity and conscionable tried to marque tiny steps towards it."

Throughout her attraction and recovery, Kennedy has documented those steps connected Instagram successful a bid to summation the speech astir cancer.

In the UK, 1 successful 2 radical volition beryllium diagnosed with crab successful their lifetime, portion 1 successful 7 women volition make bosom cancer.

"It's thing everyone is truly frightened about," Kennedy said. "I wanted to destigmatise the speech a small bit, bring radical wrong what it was really similar to beryllium 29, beryllium arsenic acceptable and steadfast arsenic you perchance tin be, but inactive beryllium diagnosed with cancer.

"I wanted to papers it, for myself and besides to bring radical with maine and explicate if you bash get a diagnosis, it's not the extremity of your life.

"It is not the crushed to halt doing things you love."

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