Cancer can’t keep Penkin out of the games
WHEN Sydney mother of two Amanda Penkin was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2016, it could have shattered her dream of representing Australia at the Maccabiah Games.
WHEN Sydney mother of two Amanda Penkin was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2016, it could have shattered her dream of representing Australia at the Maccabiah Games.
A month after being diagnosed she had a mastectomy, an operation to remove lymph nodes in her right arm and then began a series of energy-sapping chemotherapy treatments.
“My doctor said I’m going to have to write off competitive sport for a year,” Penkin said.
“But I’ve always been a person with a positive attitude – you can’t let things faze you.”
Although the cancer diagnosis came as a massive shock, instead of despairing, Penkin decided to make it her goal to stay active and qualify for Maccabiah in swimming “as it was something positive to work towards”.
A year later, she earned her spot in the team in the 50m and 100m breaststroke, 50m and 100m freestyle and the 50m butterfly.
“Another goal I set myself was for my family not to get too affected by what I was going through, and to be a role model to my children in how I responded to my diagnosis.
“The key message I wanted them to know is that you don’t know what is around the corner, and to show them that something negative happened to me, but I responded positively.”
Penkin, who is a member of the Maccabi NSW Swimming Club committee and former president, will be joined in Israel by her husband David and two children.
David will compete in the half marathon and the kids, 18-year-old Sabrina and 15-year-old Samuel will represent Australia in the swimming pool.
“David qualified for the team first, and in October he ran in the Melbourne Half Marathon, and I came along and ran 10km,” Penkin said.
“Then me and the children qualified in swimming, which was so exciting.
“They are both at Moriah College, and Sabrina is in year 12 and studying for the HSC this year, and she is doing a terrific job of balancing what we like to call ‘school and pool’. I think it’s because she knows just what a unique opportunity lies ahead of her – a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Penkin said what made her goal seem possible was when she decided to resume training sessions in the pool with her children, and to try to keep her life as normal as possible during treatment.
That included continuing to work part-time in her senior role at the Commonwealth Bank.
“I did a bit of my own research and found that exercise can be helpful when going through chemo, so I resumed swimming and kept working, and my work colleagues were very good to me.
“It also meant that I wouldn’t be lying in bed feeling sorry for myself every day.”
Penkin – who broke her own masters 50m breaststroke Maccabi Swimming Club record in 2015 – not only kept herself active, but helped to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research.
“Early on I started my own WhatsApp group, called The Best of the Breast, as a way to chronicle my journey through treatment and share that with close friends and family.
“We had our own T-shirts made and a whole group of us wore them in the 2016 Mother’s Day Classic fun run, which I did two days before I had surgery to remove my breast.
“In August last year we ran the City2Surf in Sydney in our T-shirts and raised $14,000 for the Prince of Wales Hospital where cancer patients from rural areas come to receive chemotherapy treatments.
“Then in November I swam at the Pan-Pac Swimming Masters in the Gold Coast – I was 13 treatments into chemotherapy and I had no hair or eyebrows, but I could still swim!”
Penkin completed her treatment in March, and in May she was the keynote speaker at Moriah College’s Pink Breakfast charity event for breast cancer research.
She said most people “are stunned” when they first hear of her courageous journey to the Games, and then incredibly supportive – something the family really appreciates.
As for how she will feel when she walks into Jerusalem’s Teddy Stadium on July 6 for the Maccabiah Games opening ceremony, Penkin said “I don’t really know, but what I’m certain of is it will be emotional to go back to our Jewish homeland, as a family, to represent Australia doing something we love, and to be a role model for positivity.”
SHANE DESIATNIK
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