CATHERINE WILLIAMSON ZELDA WILSON PODCAST INTERVIEW
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When Leamington’s Catherine Williamson embarked on her new podcast, Gobsmacked, little did she anticipate how much it would reignite her own buried emotions. In this new series, she introduces us to some of the guests which have most inspired her. Listen back to Zelda’s podcast interview here:
https://gobsmacked.me/gobsmacked/ep2/
Introducing Zelda Wilson, from Warwick. . .
At the age of just 41, Zelda Wilson was handed what she thought was a death sentence. A breast cancer diagnosis gave her a 50% chance of surviving past one year.
But it was that same day she also vowed to start living!
It marked the start of a two-year journey involving a gruelling treatment programme and pre-emptive double mastectomy and hysterectomy. Her father’s breast cancer diagnosis in the same year had prompted tests which uncovered the BRCA2 tumour supressor gene in the family.
And all this while dealing with the emotional fallout of a divorce from her husband of 20 years.
Zelda, who settled in Hampton Magna from her native South Africa 23 years ago, reflects: “I was initially given a 50 per cent chance of
surviving a year! It was already fourth grade and had spread to my lymph nodes.”
“I re-evaluated my life and knew I didn't want cancer to define me. I did an Iron Man to feel much more pain than cancer. And I wanted something else to talk about and I carried on for 10 years. Cancer has motivated me to do more and in a hurry. I was always adventurous but upped my game. I learned to say, yes!”
Indeed, Zelda had a new-found lust for adventure and has taken every opportunity between treatment rounds to test her own limits, including numerous marathons, pilgrimages, cycling expeditions and Iron Man (twice!) In what some might see as an act of defiance, she even cycles to and from her hospital appointments!
However, it was to go badly wrong on a recent cycling trip between São Paulo and Rio in March this year, when she was involved in a serious accident which left her with a broken neck.
“They put me in a neck brace on an island and I had to stay there until they were sure I was stabilised and then they flew me to the mainland. I lay looking at the ceiling for five days, and then I was flown home to continue my recovery.”
In 2018, and just when she was clawing back confidence in her body, her health and her life as a single mother of two small children, Zelda found another lump in her neck. The cancer had metastasised into
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