‘Weightlifting got me through chemotherapy after I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer’ - Shrewsbury mum says strength training helped recovery after devastating diagnosis
A Shrewsbury mum who was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer has spoken of how her weightlifting hobby helped her get through gruelling rounds of chemotherapy and put her on the road to recovery.
Dawn Williams, now 52, was diagnosed with cancer in October 2023.
Her devastating diagnosis came just a month after the mum of three had split with her former partner. She was then faced with a double mastectomy and fortnightly rounds of chemotherapy.
But Dawn, who had taken up strength training during lockdown, says her weightlifting hobby helped alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy.
“100 per cent it helped me," said Dawn, who trains at Evolution Weightlifting Club in Shrewsbury. "I had accelerated chemotherapy every two weeks and while I would be lying to say didn’t get any side effects, I did feel off on some days, I didn’t get the extreme sickness some people get."
Dawn who works at a pharmaceutical company said her diagnosis had been “pretty scary” but added: “I’d started strength training in lockdown, and when I was diagnosed I was training on a regular basis.
“I was also drinking five to six litres of water during chemo days, but the strength training 100 per cent helped me through it. It did give me something to focus on mentally but the main benefits were physical.
“There’s a lot of evidence that suggests that physical training can alleviate symptoms and help recovery.”
Dawn even competed in the British championships two weeks before her chemotherapy started, and continued to weight train throughout her treatment competing in clean and jerk and snatch events and even went on to win three gold medals in her sport after her cancer diagnosis.
In May last year she was given the good news that there were no longer any signs of cancer.
"It isn't just the weight training that got me through but also the community that Sam Heenan the coach at Evolution Weightlifting has created. That also really helped save my life."
Dawn, who now volunteers at a cancer charity, added: “Life is never quite the same after a cancer diagnosis. I still have to go scans and that can be a worry that it has come back but I want to get the message out there that women should make sure they check themselves - my first mammogram was negative."
