But then, just after lockdown, her husband was diagnosed with colon cancer and told he had six months to live.
To begin with, she said she “pushed herself” in her final powerlifting competition because she knew it would be the last one her husband was able to attend.
She made lifestyle changes for both her and her husband to maximise the time they had left together.
But when he died in January 2023, she went downhill again.
“My best friend is gone,” she said. “For days I wasn’t eating, for days I wasn’t taking a shower.”
But then, one day, her daughter said something that changed her life.
“She was like ‘I’m not going to lose you the way I lost dad’,” she said.
“That was a wake up call for me.”
