Sydney-based Govind Sandhu, son of well-known former Queenstown restaurateur Shammi Sandhu and the late Maninderjit Singh Sandhu (‘MJS’), was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after experiencing "really bad" flu-like symptoms soon after completing a half marathon in May.
Having felt in the best shape of his life, it was a shock and a half — "I was doing all the [right] things from the moment I woke to the moment I went to sleep, from nutrition through to exercise and top-shelf supplements".
"I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I’m a CrossFitter who runs and does ultramarathons and I love being active.
"What this has done is just give me a perspective that it can happen to anyone. Cancer doesn’t discriminate, in particular blood cancer."
Govind, who’s undergoing six cycles of chemo every 21 days, admits he was "shit-scared" to learn of his diagnosis, "and I’m still terrified of what it could do".
"I’m just trying to control what I can within my area of influence and do all the right things, from movement through to nutrition.
"The things I’ve done, from fitness and races and all this over the last four years, I nearly feel it set me up to tackle this head-on and be in the best possible state."
He’s put his life on hold to "fully focus on beating this crazy life-threatening illness I thought I’d never have".
So far he’s responded well to treatment, but he admits "it’s a long road ahead".
He says many cancer sufferers don’t feel comfortable talking about it, "but for me I find it’s very therapeutic".
And he’s using his Instagram account — @govindsandhu — to urge people to get six-monthly blood checks and yearly scans and be their own health advocate.
"Often you’ll have to push your GP when there aren’t alarming signals to go down the path of something."
In turn, he’s received an "incredible" outpouring of love and support, while his mum, Shammi, has been "the shining light".
All going well he’ll head to Queenstown sometime over summer.
"There’s no better place for healing and recovery, it will be nice to get that fresh mountain air and a bit of a different pace in life."
