Regan Now There You Go Again
"I never smoked, never drank, I thought I was invincible. Then information technology happened and at present I am so much more aware and appreciative of waking upward everyday considering cancer doesn't intendance, it can happen to anybody."
Regan Walker has quite a story to tell. He wanted to become a footballer and, at the historic period of eleven, had earned a spot with Manchester City's youth setup before later joining Coffin, where he turned professional person.
And while it is not uncommon for many young players to see that dream ended before the age of 20, Walker's story is a bit different.
A pain in his leg, initially diagnosed as a musculus problem, turned out to be far more serious. The cancer he was suffering from concluded his football career, but ultimately likewise set up him off on a new path to becoming a successful manner model and social media influencer.
The 25-year-old spoke to BBC Sport well-nigh his journey.
'I had a 30-centimetre tumour on my femur'
After making iii senior appearances for the Shakers in 2013-14, Walker left the club. Just, prior to his exit, he had been experiencing excruciating pain in his correct thigh.
"I got the leg scanned and and so that'south how we found out what happened, past blow. I was originally scanned when I was at Bury 12 months prior to finding out and I was diagnosed wrong, which led to me beingness in pain for a lot longer than it should take been," he told BBC Sport.
"I had a tumour on my femur and information technology had grown to almost 30cm long. I found out and information technology was slap bang into the tests and to chemo."
Walker underwent tests and a biopsy at a infirmary in Oswestry where he was somewhen diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that affects bones or the tissue effectually bones.
Ewing's Sarcoma makes up 14% of all os sarcoma diagnoses, co-ordinate to Sarcoma UK, and mainly affects teenagers and young people.
What would follow would be 12 months of intense chemotherapy too equally operations to rebuild his leg.
He connected: "I was so confused for so long, and I was like 'what is this?', and I call up my mum actually maxim that and asking how did I feel.
"I said despite everything, I'grand kind of glad I know what'due south happening now, and we can aim to get it sorted and go down the right route.
"There are loads of pre-treatment tests that they do earlier you lot get-go chemo and before I knew it, within the space of a calendar month, I was hooked up to a baste starting a treatment plan of getting over this horrible thing."
Also as six months of chemotherapy to kill the tumour as much as possible earlier having information technology removed, Walker went on to have surgery to remove and replace his femur as well every bit to remove a lot of the muscle in his leg.
He also underwent radiotherapy at the aforementioned time, leaving him wearied.
"That was a tough half-dozen months, but information technology was just a mental battle, it was just getting through it each day at a time," he added.
"I was having chemo and radiotherapy at the same time, whilst on crutches, equally my leg was locked up in a brace after my surgery.
"In that location were a few hiccups on the manner. I found out I had a lump in my heart, which turned out to be a claret clot.
"Luckily information technology wasn't the cancer that had spread, although that was a worry. I say 'luckily'. I had a blood clot in my heart, but that was the best-case scenario."
'We need to put a new knee in besides'
Walker finished his treatment almost 12 months after he started, withal there were complications from the effects of his surgeries.
"I got to the end of the year, all went well and I finished my treatment. They did all the finish-of-treatment scans and I got the all-clear simply earlier Christmas, so it was most bang on 12 months of a treatment period," he continued.
"I went and started physio at that time, and that was when they realized my prosthesis hadn't set in correctly equally, due to the radiotherapy, the screws had gone haywire.
"My genu was swollen so much then they basically said 'we need to put in a new knee as well'. So in the new yr, I went direct in and they took my knee out and put a prosthetic one in so I had that as well as the metallic femur replacement."
Confined to using crutches afterwards beingness given a new prosthetic knee, Walker was and so faced with the chore of learning to walk once more.
"To be honest, that did help because I was in so much pain because my human knee was just not coping," he added. "I was learning to walk and for some other 6 months or and so, I was on crutches in the ward and then there was physio after that.
"I managed to ditch the crutches as best I could. I take good and bad days nonetheless, just I got on my 2 anxiety over again, which was a big achievement to not have the crutches with me anymore."
Adapting to a new look
For a young man, at that place was a huge adjustment for Walker to make as he went through the process of undergoing chemotherapy.
But there was also an emotional impact of what he was going through and the knock-on effect on his loved ones.
"When it first happened, there was a daze period. It didn't fully sink in at first. When I went for my first chemo I recollect looking at myself in the mirror and thinking 'this is the real deal now, we've got to get through this'," he said.
"My dad e'er said you lot can't go around it, y'all've got to go through information technology. I call up thinking that to myself. Information technology took its toll every bit I have such a good family, which is probably the reason I got through it every bit well every bit I did."
The knock-on upshot of how his diagnosis and treatment affected those effectually him gave a dissimilar perspective on his situation - especially with the sacrifices his mother made.
He added: "It was a horrible thing to see, but it was how information technology was. Everything was consumed past me at that time and my mum was not thinking about anything else.
"My mum was my rock and she quit work for the year. She lost so much weight and she was prioritising me.
"I didn't have it the easiest. I don't sympathize it because I'm not a parent myself, only for my mum and dad to become through that, I always think that must have been so hard."
'I left work and it spiralled'
After existence given the all-articulate, Walker needed a new passion to immerse himself in with his football career coming to a premature terminate.
A period working in a warehouse and so later with his blood brother as an assistant site manager followed, earlier Walker pivoted to i of his other loves - manner.
"I thought, with the way Instagram and social media was going, I'm but going to post on my Instagram my have on fashion and exist consequent and mail and post, considering I'd seen people were doing it and information technology was their job," he added.
"I was out every weekend subsequently work taking multiple outfits in my car shooting around Manchester, getting loads of dissimilar shots so I would take enough for the week.
"I had less than 1,000 followers at the fourth dimension, simply I was simply consistent with it and then five or vi months went past and I'd grown and grown."
Walker'southward following did indeed grow - to his current 93,000 followers on Instagram. And in the two years since he started posting, he has turned his hard work into a full-time job that has seen him work with some big brands in the fashion world.
He continued: "People were sharing my pictures on manner pages and I gained more followers. I but stuck at it and the following kept shooting up.
"I was at around 25,000 followers inside 10 months. I went to New York around two years ago and I was getting a lot of interest at the time. I was making enough money and, with my age, I didn't take a lot of commitments and I idea 'I can do this full time'.
"I said to my friend, 'Expect, I don't like what I'thou doing and I desire to focus on this'. My best friend said the same and we both do this now. Nosotros have the same post-obit pretty much and nosotros get to practise this together as our job.
"I left work and information technology just kind of spiralled and kept going from there. It's pretty crazy, only I'm very thankful for it."
'Information technology notwithstanding triggers me'
Walker is not lone in being diagnosed with a grade of cancer whilst playing professionally.
Quondam Rochdale midfielder Joe Thompson twice recovered from Hodgkin lymphoma twice prior to his retirement, while former Wolves keeper Carl Ikeme was diagnosed with acute leukaemia in 2017.
Earlier this season, Bournemouth and Wales midfielder David Brooks was also diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma, while five days later, Norwich Urban center keeper Dan Barden was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
When asked past BBC Sport whether hearing of other players' diagnoses was triggering, Walker said: "Information technology is a piddling bit. I'1000 quite good friends with Joe Thompson and we get on well. He helped me in my fourth dimension and I spoke with him.
"He relapsed afterward I had got the all-clear so I spoke with him when he was going through his 2nd menstruation. I accept a lot of respect for him.
"Considering I'm doing what I'm doing and it affecting my life and so much, I don't really similar hearing negative things about it because I don't desire it be a trigger.
"Recently I institute out someone I knew and went through treatment with at the same time had passed away concluding year.
"Little things similar that are a trigger and it'south a tough one. You might have a piffling sit down in the bathroom and have a cry as it gets so overwhelming, but information technology'southward a part of my life everyday.
"I'll speak on my Instagram about it equally well and I find because then many people are affected by information technology, I'll hear from someone who says 'Oh my friend is affected by this right now' or 'My mum is going through this right now', and it's only if you can help one person, that's my thing."
Later his recovery and his blossoming new career, what is the one thing that Walker has learned from his experiences?
"That you are not invincible," he said. "We can all become dealt a bad paw at some point in our life and the mode I meet it at present, I got mine out the manner.
"I wouldn't wish it on anybody. If I could alter things, I don't necessarily know if I would because it happened for a reason. The mode I come across it is, I could deal with it, I got through it. It's made me the person I am now who sees life in a very positive mode."
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Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59459496
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