I felt like I was in the shape of my life… I didn't expect to be told I had cancer
| Published date | 23 April 2024 |
| Publication title | Huddersfield Daily Examiner |
Adele has gone on to become a campaigner for bowel cancer awareness, and last year joined the Guinness World Record books when she became the fastest runner with a stoma bag in the London Marathon. She completed it in three hours, 30 minutes and 22 seconds - a personal best and faster than she ran the course twice, pre-cancer.
Today, the shaven-headed former Radio 1 DJ says she is still recovering from chemotherapy that left her with agonising pain in her hands and feet. Her skin peeled off, she lost her fingerprints and everything she ate tasted metallic.
Adele has remained positive, but admits there were moments of despair.
"There were some nights when I'd just lie there and cry because it hurt so much. It robbed me of so much, just like the pleasure of tasting your favourite food, everything tasted like metal. My tongue got black dots on it. It changed my skin, my face, I was bloated."
Not being able to control what happened to her body, she focused on her mind and soul, listening to music and getting to the end of each day with her girlfriend, actor Kate Holderness, focusing on the positive.
"Even though it was hurting, I was always moving forward," says Adele. "You have to take it day-by-day,
Adele and on ITV's break it down, concentrate on what's in front of you. I think having cancer made me very present."
Adele Kate
Now she has written Personal Best, a memoir about her experience and how she has changed since her diagnosis in October 2021, being declared 'cancer-free' in August 2022, and running her record-breaking London Marathon last year, less than 12 months after finishing chemo.
"It feels amazing," she beams. "I did it because I couldn't find somebody that had done it, so I thought, 'I'm going to try to set a record if I can, because at least then it'll show other people with stomas what's possible'."
Hydration and nutrition had to be precisely monitored on the day, she recalls.
"Anybody who's able-bodied will know that you've got to have enough fuel in your body to make it round 26.2 miles, and with a stoma you are already 30% down on your hydration because you've been perpetually dehydrated.
"Then I had to get enough food and drink into me but not have to empty my bag in the toilet all the time. It was a hard balance."
The night before the...
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