Kim Dalton
1981 - 2005
I personally did not know Kim Dalton who lived in the South Coast of NSW, but knew of her and of her intense and long fight with a rare form of Cancer. Kim was twenty-one years old when she was diagnosed with Adrenocortical Carcinoma (ACC) in 2003.
Kim was a multiple National and State Champion Black Belt Taekwondo competitor (World Juniors 1998, East Asian Games 2001 Japan, Yeosu International Korea 2002). She was the only member to have been awarded Life Membership of Taekwondo Australia Inc. She was a 4th Dan Blackbelt in Taekwondo which is the ranking of an international instructor and was a Taekwondo instructor of more than 100 under 13-year olds at the South Coast Taekwondo Centre. Kim's achievements in Taekwondo continued during her struggle with ACC as she returned to competition in 2004, first at NSW and then at the Nationals. This was after two major surgeries, and again in January 2005, after more surgery.
Her journey of pain, frustration and despair was unique because it was also a journey of a young woman who came to terms with her fate, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. During her illness, Kim wrote of her struggle with the disease that she named Fred the Freak. Her book, The Real Fight - A Memoir of A Life Interrupted is an incredibly honest and insightful account of what she went through as a patient, a daughter, a partner, a sister, a friend, a champion and a woman desperately searching for explanations, answers, and just the smallest sign of hope. Her book is more than an account of courage against adversity. It is a very perceptive narrative of a young woman unravelling weighty questions regarding the meaning of life and the meaning of a fatal illness, in an incredibly short space of time. One discovers in the course of reading Kim's biography, the becoming of a woman who is beyond her years in intellect, talent, wisdom and courage.
Kim Dalton's biography has been recommended to the Board of Studies for High School students. It has already sold five thousand copies. It is available through all ABC Book Shops.
You can also find Illawarra ABC's Peter Riley's interview with Kim Dalton at the ABC website.
The Real Fight - A Memoir of A Life Interrupted
is Available at ABC Bookshops: http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?productid=162405
The article below was written by Kim Dalton two years
before she died at the age of twenty-two.
(with special permission from Rob Cooley)
Fight
for your life
By Kim Dalton
“You
have cancer”
This
was the situation I was confronted with earlier this year. My name is
Kim Dalton; I am a 3rd Dan WTF Black belt. I have been
practicing Taekwondo for nearly 10 years. I have represented
I
probably should have known something was wrong, I probably should have
seen a Doctor earlier. The signs were there. As early as October last
year I had sense of not feeling that well, a vague ache under my ribs in
the right side. By January 2003, this was a constant pain on my right
side. By February I was sleeping poorly, having drenching night sweats
most nights and was doubled over with pain on my right side. At this
point, with the inherent feeling that something was very wrong, I
stopped telling myself and those around me that this was some kind of
injury or muscle strain I done to myself in Taekwondo training and went
to see my Doctor. Doctors would later tell me I had been living with
cancer for somewhere between six months to three years.
Three
weeks later, after numerous tests and scans and still an uncertain
diagnosis, I was waiting in St George hospital for what I was assured
would be a ‘major, major, major’ surgery.
And
it was, more so than my Doctors and I had imagined. The hope prior to my
surgery was that I had a benign liver tumour, a condition that
occasionally occurs in young females. This preliminary diagnosis was
incorrect. The surgery was much more extensive than planned. The
surgical team resected (took out) my right adrenal gland, right kidney,
part of my liver, part of my inferior vena cava (the vein that returns
blood from the lower half of your body to your heart) and part of my
diaphragm (the muscle that controls your breathing). This was along with
a very large tumour – over 1kg and 20cm and a couple of cancerous
lymph nodes.
The
diagnosis? A locally advanced Stage IV (there are only IV stages)
Adrenocortical Carcinoma (ACC). Haven’t heard of it? Not many people
have. ACC is exceedingly rare, it has an incidence is around one case in
every two million people. The
current literature on ACC generally begins with statements like
‘Adrenocortical Carcinoma is a rare and lethal neoplasm’ or
‘Adrenal cancer is a rare cancer that carries an especially poor
prognosis’. As one oncologist (cancer Doctor) told me ‘you got one
of the worst of a very bad bunch’.
Two
weeks before my operation I had been training very hard, despite feeling
pretty bad. I was able to train for over two hours – fitness, stair
runs, kicking and always my favourite – sparring. Nearly a month later
when I was released form hospital, I had lost 12kg, mostly muscle mass,
I looked like a skeleton and could not walk up the few stairs to my
house without assistance.
With
a disease like ACC there are no experts, most oncologists in
The
Facts:
ACC
has an incidence of 1 in 2 million
ACC
is a multi-drug and radiation resistant cancer – meaning that
other than surgery there is currently no potentially curative
treatments.
Even
when all the tumour is resected (taken out) the incidence of
recurrence or metastatic spread, sometimes years after the initial
surgery is discouragingly high.
Due
to the small incidence of ACC there is no incentive for drug
companies to research treatments or fund clinical trials. There is
no political clout in such a rare cancer. So nothing happens.
There
is no accepted treatment protocol which means that Cancer Doctors
are unsure of what / if any treatments to administer.
Cancer
and Taekwondo
I
believe my experiences in Taekwondo are helping me in my battle with
cancer. There are many similarities between ‘fighting’ in Taekwondo
and the ‘fight’ against cancer.
Think
positively / Mind how you think
In
sport Taekwondo, most high-level players understand the importance of
their ‘mindset’. In order to be successful in Taekwondo you must
first believe that you can, you must have faith in yourself. You must be
committed to achieving your goals and mind how you think – Cancer is
the same. Hope is important and to stay positive is in my opinion and
experience vitally important. During my time as an athlete I learnt to
be positive, how to (to some extent) control how I think in pressure
situations, and I also learnt how to be realistic about what needs to be
done. I use these qualities I developed through Taekwondo every day in
my ‘fight’ with cancer.
Search
for more knowledge
To be successful in any endeavour you must be knowledgeable and always searching for more knowledge. Before I was diagnosed with cancer I was a student of Taekwondo. Watching at every competition and competition tapes for ways to improve, new techniques, trends in competition. I was always looking for new training methods and ways to improve my fitness.
Now
I am a student of cancer. With such a rare cancer you have to be your
own advocate and expert. I spend hours every week researching on the
Internet, in books, emailing with Doctors and patients overseas. Within Australia
I often find myself discussing my case with Doctors who know less about
this disease than I do. If I had not done my own research and hassled my
Doctors regarding treatment options and follow-up procedures I know I
would not have received the ‘correct’ treatment and my chances of
survival would be less. ‘Explore every avenue’ is a good motto for
sport, cancer and life.
Look
after your body
Every
athlete knows how important it is to look after his or her body. The
right training, looking after injuries, adequate rest and proper
nutrition are all important aspects of an athlete’s life. Even more so
with a cancer patient. Nutrition is important, I have to eat the
‘right’ foods or the side effects of my treatments are much greater.
I need to be fit and strong to improve my health and make Doctors want
to help me. It is also important to be in good condition in case I need
another operation. Exercise and Taekwondo is also great for your mental
health and stress relief, when you are training hard that is all you can
focus on, there is no room for other thoughts – like an active
meditation.
Need
for a good support network
As
an athlete it is important to have a good support network; family,
friends, coaches and trainers all contribute to the success of the
individual. A strong support network or ‘team’ is important to help
a patient through the ups and downs of a cancer diagnosis, treatment and
the uncertainties of survivorship. Just as it is important to have a
knowledgeable and helpful coach – as a cancer patient the need for a
Doctor who is committed to obtaining the best result is imperative.
Need
for funding to improve
Since
the inception of Taekwondo as an Olympic sport and the subsequent
OAP/SEP funding from the AOC,
This
year I celebrated my 22nd birthday, statistically my chances
of celebrating my 27th birthday are very slim, my 32nd
birthday – even less. This will not change unless more research into
novel treatments is done. Research and clinical trials will not happen
unless there are funding dollars. I would like to challenge those
involved in Taekwondo in
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