As far as lucky numbers go, it seems 13 is the winner for Mooloolaba’s Wendy Barnes as she prepares to fulfil a dream met with its fair share of battles.
Fearing breast cancer would rob her of life and the chance to compete in the Mooloolaba Triathlon, the 55-year-old is now ready to chase her own personal victory.
A seasoned triathlete, Mrs Barnes moved to the Coast from Adelaide 13 years ago with her husband Trevor and three children Hayley, Tayla and Riley, before receiving a devastating diagnosis.
“We arrived in the January and I started training,” she says. “In the June I got diagnosed with breast cancer. We were really gobsmacked.”
She underwent a lumpectomy, 12 rounds of chemotherapy and radiation and had all 24 lymph nodes removed from her left arm.
“I treated all of my chemo like a triathlon,” Mrs Barnes says. “I thought right, that’s one leg down, I’ve done that swim leg and now I’ve got the bike leg.”
After treatment, Mrs Barnes began participating in charity triathlons, raising money for cancer. “In 2011 I did the breast cancer tri with my two daughters and a girlfriend; I did the bike leg.
“Then in 2012 I did the whole tri and so did my daughters.”
That same year she raised $10,000 taking part in the Rio Tinto Ride for Breast Cancer Research, a 260-kilometre return trip from Brisbane to Wivenhoe.
Then, at a five-year check-up in 2013, Mrs Barnes received the news no one wanted to hear.
“I got diagnosed again. That was really hard. I went straight in and I had a double mastectomy and had to have chemo again. It was very hard going through that the second time; you know what to expect.”
Fearing she would lose her battle, Mrs Barnes wrote a letter to each of her children, something she says was a very traumatic experience.
Nearly eight years on and with a newfound passion for life, she began training for the 2021 Mooloolaba Triathlon in December last year.
“For 13 years it’s always been in the back of my head that I’d always wanted to do [the Mooloolaba Triathlon]. Now I’ve got my third chance at life so I’m living it.”
Mrs Barnes is part of the Mooloolaba Beach Bums swim club and says swimming has become her “saviour” physically and mentally post-cancer.
She runs to and from swim training, but admits the high impact is difficult on her joints after chemotherapy.
She says she also has a very special connection to her bike. “When I turned 39, I decided to do a triathlon. It was at Port Pirie and I actually won that one. Mum and Dad helped me pay half for my beautiful bike, which I’ve got my name on and it says, ‘love Mum and Dad’, which is very special because my dad recently passed away.”
This time round, Mrs Barnes’s 21-year-old son Riley will also take part in the triathlon to support his mother.
With the event on March 13, 13 years after moving to Queensland where she lives at number 13 of her Mooloolaba street, 13 years since her first cancer diagnosis and being diagnosed for a second time in 2013, Mrs Barnes is hoping lucky number 13 has finally aligned so she can fulfil her dream.
She admits the 750-metre swim, 20-kilometre cycle and five-kilometre run event will be her last. “People are telling me I’ll have to come 13th but I just want to finish it. I’ll keep up with my swimming and cycling but this is the last triathlon.
“As I have always said, what the mind believes the body achieves.”
