Life Story Of An Olympic Swimmer Who Beat Cancer

SwimRay | Jae Lyn

in Articles Posted on

16/06/2021 00:32

Nathan Ghar-jun Adrian started swimming at the tender age of 5. This was partly due to the influence of his older siblings — Donella and Justin, who swam at Arizona State University and the University of Washington respectively. He had a successful high school career in Bremerton High School’s swim team and graduated in 2006.

While attending the University of California, Berkeley, the swimmer was a five-time individual NCAA champion, winning the 50-yard freestyle in 2009 and 2011, and the 100-yard freestyle in 2009, 2010, and 2011. He then graduated in 2012 with honors and a degree in Public Health.

Subsequently, in college, Adrian made his debut in the 2008 Olympic Trials, placing 4th in the 100-meter freestyle, and 6th in the 50-meter freestyle. This qualified him for the 400-meter freestyle relay, winning him a gold medal in Beijing. Returning to the Olympics in 2012, Adrian then proceeded to win gold once more in the 100-meter freestyle individually — an intense race that was just 0.01 seconds quicker than the famed Australia world champion, James Magnussen.

The young swimmer then proceeded to win another 3 more Olympic gold medals throughout the years, making him a successful athlete with an impressive swim career.

Unfortunately, in the year 2019, at the age of 30, the Olympic swimmer received the terrible news of being diagnosed with testicular cancer. In an interview with Coping Magazine, he mentioned, “My reaction was a bit of everything when I was diagnosed — shock, sadness, anger, anxiety… It isn’t very fair to try to bundle up all the emotions that a cancer diagnosis includes into one or two words”. Needless to say, we can only imagine the amount of shock and devastation the swimmer felt — as anyone would feel when receiving this level of news.

After observing Eric Shanteau — the Olympic swimmer who won a gold meal in 2012, struggle through chemotherapy after receiving the same diagnosis, Adrian decided to go with the surgical route, with chemotherapy as a last resort. Although the Washington native was in the middle of training for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, he underwent an orchiectomy to remove the tumorous testicle less than a week after his diagnosis. A month later, he underwent yet another surgery — the Laparoscopic Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection (RPLND) procedure, to remove the remaining lymph nodes.

After the surgery, Adrian couldn’t lift anything more than 15 pounds for over a month’s duration. However, as soon as he hit recovery, the dedicated athlete was back on his feet and in the weight room, pumped to get back into shape. By late February in 2020, the motivated swimmer was already back in the pool and ready to resume his training for the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.

There, he anchored Team USA in the 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay and not only won gold but set a new championship record time! This satisfying win proves that with hard work and determination you really can achieve what you set your mind to, making Nathan Adrian one of the most inspiring role models yet.

When questioned on how he managed to maintain his unwavering level of resolve, he stressed the importance of having a rock to ground him in difficult times of need, and encourages others to do the same. To him, working out was his rock as it aided in clearing and refreshing his mind.

Keeping a more positive outlook on life, he also revealed how testicular cancer had improved his mental game in the pool. It made him learn to be more forgiving of himself when he’s having a bad day, stating, “We just don’t have enough time on this earth to allow our days to be ruined by something like that”.

The Olympic swimmer also took to social media and his experience with cancer. He felt it was important to raise awareness of cancer and how critical it is to prioritize your health. Hence, he encouraged other men to get screened as well. Adrian also found comfort in talking to others who could relate to what he was going through on social media. It made him feel less alone and supported by others around him, and hoped he provided that same support for others as well.

Utilizing his Olympic status, Adrian went on to raise awareness on testicular cancer and advocated for early screening through his “Movember” campaign, featuring an inspiring video titled “No Less of a Man”. This campaign aimed to break down the stigma surrounding testicular cancer which associates masculinity with having a pair of testicles. He wanted to show others that there is no shame to their diagnosis and that although he doesn’t have “a pair” anymore, he doesn’t view himself as any less of a man.