Fitness instructor Duncan Thomson used sport to get through some of the “darkest days of his life” after being diagnosed with cancer on his mum’s birthday.
He was lying on a sun lounger in Dubai in August of 2018 when he received a call that made his heart sink.
Returning to Aberdeen a couple of days later, he was shocked with the diagnosis of Melanoma delivered at ARI.
“Because I don’t smoke, hardly drink and am quite fit, I never thought I was going to get cancer,” he said.
“Your world just implodes and suddenly all of these plans that have get put on hold.
“I don’t remember much in those months. It was all just a blur.”
Mr Thomson said the news prompted to to re-evaluate everything about his life.
“I was diagnosed on August 24, 2018 and I had ordered a new car that was meant to come in September.
“I considered cancelling it. I thought ‘what if I die and someone is left with the car and the payments and they can’t get rid of it?’.
“All of that stuff goes through your head. In some of the darker days it made me question my life.”
The 44-year-old works full time in IT but is also a group fitness instructor teaching body attack and body pump.
It was this, he says, that helped him through his recovery.
Telling his mum was one of the hardest parts as it “knocked him sideways” when he saw how upset she was.
Mr Thomson went through two operations to remove the Melanoma and received the all clear just before Christmas 2018.
Being told he had to shave his hair was hard for him to deal with and he asked if there was “any other way”.
Now proudly wearing his scar as a “badge of honour”, he’s excited about Brave and ready to storm the catwalk this May.
He added: “It is such a privilege to be a part of it.”
