Sundaymail Editor
Veronica Gwaze
Zimpapers Sports Hub
SHE has come face to face with death and lived to tell the tale.
A cancer survivor, veteran judoka Debi Jeans speaks of the “deadly” ailment with ease.
The 60-year-old is a two-time Olympian, African judo champion, retired judo official and former Judo Association of Zimbabwe president, whose life has constantly been haunted by cancer. Yet the way she converses about her life experiences in relation to the ailment is fascinating.
Jeans lost her father Brian to skin cancer before her mother Pat Warren was diagnosed with breast cancer within a short space of time.
As if that was not enough, she was diagnosed with breast cancer on October 26, 2013.
Ordinarily, this should be one of the topics Jeans dreads to talk about, but she survived and openly discusses her “traumatic” journey with anyone ready to listen.
“When I reflect on my journey, I feel that I was probably God’s chosen one,” Jeans said.
“There is a lot that I can share and my hope is that my story will help others. I am fortunate to have got this far after losing my father to cancer and watching my mother go through therapy and then surviving the same.”
Jeans’ parents, Brian and Pat, met through judo in England. This was back in 1953.
After that they relocated to Zimbabwe and introduced the sport in Masvingo by forming a club. Brian served many years on the judo executive committee and as the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee vice-president for 10 years. Pat, in her late 70s, remains the national development coach, who oversees a number of clubs and coaches.
Their firstborn, Jeans, is a huge judo emissary, both locally and on the international stage. She started fighting in the mid-1970s. She is one of the first judo fighters locally after she was recruited by her parents at the age of seven, when they introduced the sport in Zimbabwe. Her first competitive participation was at the South African Championship in 1979, where she won gold, marking an exciting international journey for her.
In 1984, she came fourth at the World University Championships in Strasbourg, France, as she represented the University of Zimbabwe. The following year, she bagged silver at the Italian Regional Championships before scooping gold at the 1986 African Championships in Casablanca, Morocco.
In 1988, she participated at the Seoul Olympics, finishing in eighth position.
It was also during her time as a fighter that she met her husband, Austin. Finding it difficult to balance sport and family commitments, she capped off her fighting career with a gold medal performance at the 1995 All Africa Games in Zimbabwe. While her career is indisputably an illustrious one, Jeans feels she never had time to celebrate it.
“As a fighter, I had to take up jobs after school or on weekends to raise money to fund myself for competitions,” she said.
“Due to lack of proper judo facilities here, and to keep up with international standards, every holiday I travelled abroad for two weeks of intense training. Although I won a lot of medals, I never had a moment to celebrate because I had to think ahead and find ways to fund myself for the next assignment.”
After calling time on her fighting career, the following year, Jeans embarked on refereeing.
She officiated at various competitions on the international stage. Feeling that she had not given enough to the sport, she became the Judo Association of Zimbabwe president in 2011. “I took over the reins from my father, who was the first and founding president of Judo in Zimbabwe,” she said.
My family gave a lot to judo, which continues to struggle financially to this day, but we had to make things work just to see the sport flourish locally.
“Now, I am retired, but I am ready to assist the current administration anytime because judo is my life.”
Two years into her term of office, she was diagnosed with stage two lobular cancer in one breast after feeling two small pearl-like lumps.
For some time, she was in denial and shock at the same time.
As a former athlete who was still active and “watchful” of her diet, she wondered how cancer may have gotten to her. She still has memories of the day she found out.
It was a Saturday, in October, a day before the Pink Triathlon, which happens to be a joint event between the judo association and Triathlon Zimbabwe.
“In fact, I had felt the lumps some three months prior to my diagnosis, but I just chose to ignore them. They were deep down, but I knew they were abnormal,” she said.
“When I told my husband, he quickly suggested diagnosis and when the results came, we both left the surgeon’s office in a state of shock. From there, we headed to the Mt Pleasant pool to set up our event, before proceeding home to then try and see the way forward.
“A part of me was scared after watching my father battle cancer, but another part was composed because my mother had survived it and was still very fit.”
The fitness professional is eternally grateful to a personal friend, a nurse, who visited them that afternoon in her capacity as a patient consultant. She was then working for an international medical aid insurance company.
To avert chances of the cancer spreading to the other breast, she had a double mastectomy with reconstruction. “They said with that surgery, everything looked fine and I did not need chemo or radiotherapy,” she said.
“They, however, placed me on a hormone blocker and urged me to maintain a good lifestyle for the next five years. They warned that there would be a few side effects.”
Since then, Jeans is proactive in her lifestyle choices and maintains faith. She opines that many view cancer in a wrong way.
Some even resist telling their stories, afraid that cancer creates fear. However, that is a very wrong mentality, she says.
Through a healthy lifestyle, Jeans has never been hospitalised due to any cancer-related challenges for more than a decade.
Now an exercise physiologist, cancer exercise specialist, cancer patient advocate and director, Lifestyle Medicine Academy, she volunteers lectures, raising awareness on issues related to cancer, its treatment and a positive lifestyle.
She trains judo instructors for a minimum charge and channels the proceeds to assist patients at cancer centres in Zimbabwe.
“There are new international treatment protocols using integrated oncology, where lifestyle medicine is combined with conventional standards of treatment,” she said.
“These show amazing results in terms of treatment outcomes and quality of life.”
At her Innovate Style and Health facility in Borrowdale, Jeans is setting up a “Pink Room”, which will be used for cancer-related programmes.
Online Reporter