Bob Carey-Grieve is running a solo marathon from BRICC to Ballan to raise funds, put cancer and ill-health behind him
Over the past four years Bob Carey-Grieve has suffered a double stroke, found a hole in his heart, collapsed from internal bleeding, had surgery for bowel cancer, endured 12 months of chemotherapy and its side effects, and watched his mother pass away in Scotland also from bowel cancer.
No one could blame him if he decided to take the easy road to recover, but Mr Carey-Grieve is doing exactly the opposite.
On Sunday he will run a marathon, all on his own, from Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre at BHS where he was diagnosed and treated for bowel cancer, to his Ballan home.
In part it's a psychological journey to leave the cancer and the last four traumatic years behind, a way of marking the first anniversary of his mother's death, and a nod to his father who also tackled a one-off marathon aged 45 and is now on his own in Scotland.
What's even more remarkable is that until last year when he was recovering from cancer, Mr Carey-Grieve had never been a runner.
"Part of my recovery was to start running last year. I did Run Melbourne for the Stroke Foundation and that was a bit of struggle as I went from couch potato ... to get up for that one. After mum passed I wanted to step up my ambitions - not to do the next run as a fundraiser but just to run it for me and mum.
"Then COVID happened. I was going to run the Great Ocean Road marathon but it got cancelled. I'd done all that training and didn't want it to go to waste and I genuinely didn't know if I had the ability to go through that intensive three months of training again ... so this plan came together."
And Bob's BRICC Hard Run was born.
TRAINING: Bob Carey-Grieve gets in a few more kilometres of training ahead of his marathon run from BRICC to Ballan on Sunday. Picture: Kate Healy
Mr Carey-Grieve wanted to do something to repay BRICC "because they have been awesome looking after me" and for the families battling cancer during COVID-19.
"At BRICC there was a lot of humour, a lot of love, a lot of blatant silliness ... and a real understanding of the humanity. It isn't just about let's patch you up, it's remembering there's a person here ... and you always feel like you are in good hands."
Mr Carey-Grieve's horror health run began out of the blue in 2016 when, at age 42, he suffered a double stroke that came completely out of the blue.
"It was completely unexpected and that was a concern because they couldn't tell me what had happened. That created a lot of anxiety because if I didn't know what caused it I didn't know what to avoid."
After six months of investigations doctors found a hole in his heart and surmised that a blood clot had been present around his heart, travelled through the hole, split in two and caused the strokes.
It was unknown what had caused the blood clot, but he had been on a long haul flight and a DVT from prolonged sitting could have contributed.
Doctors prescribed blood thinners to prevent any other blood clots forming, but they caused internal bleeding and he passed out at home from blood loss and was rushed to hospital.
He had recently moved from Footscray to Ballan so Ambulance Victoria transported him to Ballarat Health Services where he had five bags of blood and several bags of plasma transfused as emergency doctors tried to pinpoint the source of the bleeding.
FIRST EVENT: Bob Carey-Grieve celebrates after crossing the finishing line of the Run Melbourne event last year.
A colonoscopy to try to determine the bleed found a tumour in the bowel, which doctors then realised may have caused his blood to become thicker and contributed to the formation of the original clot.
"In a weird way the stroke might have been how we worked out what was happening," he said.
At BRICC he underwent surgery where 30cm of his bowel was cut out, and he had six months of chemotherapy to clear the cancer.
Then, about a year after he finished chemotherapy and while he was waiting for the results of a routine colonoscopy to check the cancer had not returned, he received a phone call from his mother in Scotland saying she had also been diagnosed with bowel cancer.
Three months later, with her son at her bedside in Scotland, she passed away - a year ago this week.
Finding cancer early offers the best chance of successful treatment. During this time, it's important to prioritise your health; speak to your GP if you notice any unusual changes: https://t.co/meGRSA6g5Tpic.twitter.com/Ldb6p5Xums
— Cancer Council Victoria (@CancerVic) May 14, 2020
"The idea behind this run is that I will run from outside of BRICC and run back to Ballan. It's kind of like a psychological thing; I'm still going to be an outpatient with them but it's my way of leaving it all behind in a sense and make a big journey away from it."
It's also a nod to his father, widowed and alone amid COVID-19 restrictions in Scotland.
"I have no goal at this point other than just to finish. I'd love to come in somewhere under five hours. My dad did one marathon in his life. He wasn't a fit person either but at the age of 45 he decided to run a marathon, trained for a year, ran it in three hours and 21 minutes, then literally went back to his chair, opened his newspaper and was done.
"I'm never going to beat that time. He's home in Scotland very much on his own ... he was 45, I'm 45, and this is my way of saying 'thinking of you' to him."
At BRICC there was a lot of humour, a lot of love, a lot of blatant silliness ... and a real understanding of the humanity. It isn't just about let's patch you up, it's remembering there's a person here ... and you always feel like you are in good hands.
Bob Carey-Grieve
Because Mr Carey-Grieve can't run along the freeway from Ballarat to Ballan, he'll take the hillier route along Old Melbourne Road on Sunday morning. And because stage three COVID-19 restrictions mean he can't have more than one person as a support crew, his wife will drive to him every hour with spare water bottles and supplies and to check on his progress.
"I reckon if I can do an average pace around 6 minutes and 15 seconds per kilometre I'll be pretty happy, but there are a few hills that will really knock me and slow me down," he said.
The journey will also raise money for BRICC, with $2460 already pledged - and he has a bonus for anyone who donates.
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"The fun thing that's drawing a few people in is if they donate to the cause they get to nominate a song on the playlist I will listen to during the run," he said.
"There's already some horrendous doozies on there. I really don't want to listen to Agadoo by Black Lace or the 17 minute, 20 second progressive rock song by Marillion ... but there are some really nice ones too that people have put a lot of thought into."
He has just over three hours of songs pledged so far, and wants another three hours of music to be safe.
"I don't think I'll be in any danger of running out," he laughed.
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