Durban - A 54-year-old cancer survivor accomplishes his dream by completing the 2023 Comrades Marathon in June while running a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to purchase and donate a dialysis machine to Addington Hospital.
Nine years after Paul Hussey was diagnosed with kidney failure and stage 4b lymphoma, he returned to South Africa and completed the Comrades Marathon.
The CMA said in a statement on Thursday that Hussey moved to South Africa from the United Kingdom in 2014, but his health failed soon after, and he was admitted to Addington Hospital in Durban.
When his kidneys failed, he was transferred to the intensive care unit at Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital for the specialised kind of dialysis needed to improve his kidney function.
The CMA said when Paul’s condition was stable enough, his mother accompanied him on the flight back to England, where he went on to receive cancer treatment, which happened to be the day after the 2014 Comrades Marathon.
“I was in a wheelchair at the airport travelling back to the UK for medical treatment surrounded by hundreds of athletes all wearing their Comrades medals, looking super fit, and excited with that amazing sense of achievement having run 89km in the hot African sun. In that fateful moment, I could not have felt further away from where they were,” Hussey recalled.
Today, the CMA said Hussey is among the distinguished group of runners recorded in the celebrated annals of Comrades finishers.
“On 11 June this year, at the age of 54, Paul fulfilled his dream of finishing the world’s oldest and largest ultra marathon in 11 hours 48 minutes. He also embarked on a crowdfunding campaign to donate a much-needed dialysis machine to a public hospital in Durban,” said the CMA.
Hussey said regular running has been a massive part of his recovery and return to health and fitness, as well as learning to play the flute.
“I spent a lot of time in my hospital bed thinking of the Comrades and, as soon as I could, I returned to running, always with one goal in mind: the Comrades, The Ultimate Human Race,” he said.
The CMA said Hussey has never forgotten the two hospitals in Durban that assisted him in his time of need.
He recently returned to visit Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital and specialist physician Dr Prashant Parag to share his message of hope and appreciation for the care he received all those years ago.
“Overcoming such serious health conditions to complete the Comrades is an exceptional story of the triumph of the human spirit, and we congratulate him on this incredible achievement,” said Parag.
Parag said with the resilience of the human spirit, Hussey has demonstrated the profound impact compassionate care and comprehensive healthcare, including the entire treating team, nursing and support staff, can have on a person’s life.
“Paul has taken this a step further through his fundraising initiative in an attempt to touch the lives of many more South Africans,” he said.
Netcare’s corporate social investment arm, the Netcare Foundation, is donating a significant contribution to the crowdfunding campaign.
In addition, the staff at the CMA have decided to match the donation through the association's CSI fundraising drive.
“Paul now has sufficient funds to purchase the reverse osmosis dialysis machine,” said the CMA.
Hussey said he is grateful to all the donors.
“We are now within touching distance of raising enough to pay for the dialysis machine, which will make a great lasting difference to people requiring this type of therapy at Addington Hospital,” he said.
