by Next month’s London Marathon will see hundreds running to raise money for cancer charities. Paul Moultrie from Troon will be one of them, except he is very different from most of the participants because he is running WITH cancer.
Just six days before the Marathon, 59-year-old Moultrie, founder of fitness consultancy Mind Body Golf, will complete a program of radiotherapy to treat his prostate cancer, a course he began six weeks at the West of Scotland Beatson Cancer Center in Glasgow. He is already undergoing hormone therapy to treat his cancer, and will likely have to do so for the next two years or so – “it’s not a walk in the park,” Moultrie said, “I put belly fat on him and I got hot. Burns are things I never imagined I would find.”
To top it all off, while on holiday with his wife Gillian in Tenerife last month, veteran Scottish golf international Moultrie tripped and fell heavily, sustaining painful injuries to his hand and wrist. of the hand that saw the medical doctors on the island putting a brace on him. It was only when he got home and was advised to go to T&E at University Hospital Cross that x-rays showed that he had broken the important scaphoid bone which needs time to heal and definitely no sharp edges.
“That meant I couldn’t run for at least four weeks,” Moultrie explained, “but I’ve been walking on the beaches around here to stay as low as possible and I was an average of ten to 12 miles per trip. I must have walked hundreds of miles already and the other day I walked 14 miles.
“I have never fallen in my life and it was my bad luck that it happened in the middle of training for the Marathon.”
Many other individuals would have called it a day and given up training, but in a remarkable display of determination, Moultrie has declared that even if he has to walk part of the course, he will complete the London Marathon for the fourth time.
His family has had a brush with cancer before, his mother Elizabeth dying of it, and now Gillian and their two grown up children have come together to support Moultrie in his mammoth task of beating his own cancer and running the London Marathon to collect money. for Prostate Cancer UK.
A private person avowedly, he also decided to talk about his illness to raise awareness of prostate cancer that will affect one in eight men, and Scots are more likely than others in the UK to die of the disease because it was. not detected early enough.
It was the realization that six of his friends from the golf world had been diagnosed with prostate cancer that made Moultrie so apt to ask his doctor for a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test that showed he had six or seven times it. the levels that are considered normal. . Further tests confirmed he had prostate cancer.
“It was last June and I didn’t have any of the usual symptoms so I was asked why I needed the PSA test,” Moultrie recalled. “I’m glad I insisted because the earlier the cancer is detected the better your chances of survival.
“I have to commend all the NHS staff who dealt with my treatment. They were all brilliant.
“It’s the same for my trainer Gil Stevenson, who was a tower of strength.”
Moultrie is a recognized member of the Scottish Seniors Golf Association, and has the support of his peers and with their help he has already surpassed his personal £5,000 fundraising target for Prostate Cancer UK by running the London Marathon – completing the marathon three times . several years ago, and he knows it will be harder at age 59, but his mental approach couldn’t be better and golf has played a big part in that as has Pilates.
Moultrie says he wasn’t a very good golfer but his record belies that. Now a junior, men’s and senior player, the Royal Troon member has competed successfully at club, county, national and international level and last year represented Scotland in the R&A Home Internationals at West Kilbride Golf Club.
While still working as a chartered quantity surveyor, Moultrie took up Pilates with his wife Gillian. An optometrist by profession, Gillian decided to become a full-time Pilates instructor and her husband also qualified, both trained by the world-renowned Body Control Pilates organisation.
Blending Pilates with the Mind Factor systems devised by renowned performance coach Karl Morris, Moultrie created his own ‘Inner Caddie’ program which aims to help golfers help themselves to a better game, particularly extending their playing days. seniors.
“It’s our age group in Scotland that needs to be more aware of prostate cancer,” said Moultrie. “It’s a message I want to spread and I hope to do that by running the London Marathon.”
You can find Paul Moultrie’s page on the justgiving.com website.
