Newry woman who survived cancer and leg amputation completes triathlon

A Newry woman who has survived breast cancer and losing a leg has celebrated completing her first triathlon.

Mother-of-five Rosie Tennyson (44) suffered an amputation in 2016 after an arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a condition which causes an abnormal connection between arteries and veins.

Learning to walk again with a prosthetic leg, she faced further health problems in 2018 when diagnosed with breast cancer while pregnant.

Having lost her own mother to breast cancer at the age of nine, her unborn baby sadly died as well.

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Enduring chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, she required preventative surgery to remove her ovaries in 2020.

Completing the Crooked Lake Triathlon in Camlough earlier this month, Ms Tennyson was awarded the Spirit of Triathlon Award in memory of Co Armagh triathlete Brendan Carr.

“It’s taken me a couple of years but I finally got it done, so I’m just delighted,” she told the Irish News.

Her triathlon journey started over two years ago when she began training with the Infinity Swimming Academy in Camlough.

She said crossing the finish line was all the more amazing after suffering a collapse from blood vessels in her brain last year.

“I was very ill last summer and was actually in Daisy Hill Hospital when the triathlon was on,” she said.

“I felt very down and like I was never going to be able to do it with all these health issues getting in the way.

“But with the encouragement from Infinity (including coaches Milo McCourt and Jacqueline McClelland) I got back into training and gradually got my confidence back.

“I just really didn’t want to be defined by my disability, I want to go ahead and keep striving for this goal.”

With chaperones accompanying her during the endurance event, she explained how she swims without a prosthetic leg and uses a blade leg to run.

“It looks easy, but it’s really not. The skin can blister and you gather a lot of sweat in the liner, so you have to stop and wipe that off.

“I had some chairs around the route where I could stop and do that.”

Her bike training also came with a few falls, but that only proved a minor obstacle compared to her past struggles.

This included being wheelchair bound for a number of years because of the AVM in her foot.

“I remember sitting there thinking ‘if I could just get out of this wheelchair, I’m going to try everything.’

“I had to be mentally tough sitting in the wheelchair and wondering if that was it for me.

“But when I had the amputation and got the prosthetic, I thought I could actually try and do things again.”

Regaining the ability for everyday movement like walking and driving grew her confidence.

Being shown a picture of a Boston Marathon bombing survivor was another key inspiration.

“She had just finished a race and had lost her arms. The first thing I noticed was her smile, it was ear to ear,” she said.

“I just looked at her prosthetics and I thought ‘oh my God, this can happen if I really work for it.’”

As well as the therapeutic effect of her training, she said setting a positive example for her five children – aged nine to 26 - gave her motivation.

“I had the AVM and the breast cancer. So I was just getting over one thing before being drawn into the next,” she said.

“I was facing my mortality and realising how precious things are.

“With the children, I like them to see you can do things even if life can be tough.

“I just have this fear I won’t be around. I don’t like to dwell on things, but I have the cancer gene and would be afraid of it coming back.

“I think it’s important when they see me doing things, because they’re young carers as well.

“They help my son who has special needs with Down’s Syndrome. So I just want them to be tough I suppose.”

With sport helping her to “rejoin life again,” she said her afternoon will involve going lake swimming.

“I love getting out into nature. It just feeds my mental health and gets me ready for whatever comes next,” she said.

Asked how she feels about many people calling her inspirational, she says: “It’s so nice, but I think everyone is inspirational in their own way. I would just say to people, keep going.

“Everybody in life has challenges, but with the right mindset they can overcome things. I’m very humbled if people say that to me.”