After Taekwon-Do instructor Gerry Martin was told he had oesophageal cancer and was facing major surgery, he intuitively knew he needed to approach this health challenge as if it were an upcoming competition or grading.
He reckoned the fitter he could be for the operation, logically the recovery should be easier. “I just thought I need to do something here to make sure that I can have the best possible outcome. But also, mentally, it gave me something to focus on.”
The oesophagectomy would involve removal of his oesophagus, the food pipe. This would be replaced by stretching up his stomach to reconstruct a pathway for food to travel from his throat to the repositioned stomach.
“I was made aware that there was a possibility of complications such as pneumonia, leakage from the new connection of oesophagus and…