“Living your life and chasing your dreams” – Ironman Sam’s story

In May 2023, I was in a cycling accident while training for my first Ironman 70.3 event. The accident resulted in having surgery on my knee and a broken collarbone. Two months after my accident, I was admitted back into hospital with severe abdominal pains.

After ten months of testing, monitoring, medication, mental health battles and a change of doctor, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in early 2024.

I had researched Crohn’s as it had been mentioned in the hospital, but when searching on social media it seemed this disease had disrupted people’s lives and prevented them from doing certain things. This made me determined to do the opposite.

I signed up to do Cairns Ironman, 3.9km swim, 180km bike and 42.2km run. The training for the first half of 2024 was grueling especially while still suffering with high levels of inflammation in my bowel and stomach, being anaemic and experiencing many other Crohn’s related symptoms.

In June 2024, I became an Ironman with a time of 10hrs and 13minutes. Since then, I have taken part in Ironman 70.3 Western Sydney coming 10th in my age group and securing a spot for the World Championships 2025 in Spain.

I want to spread the word that Crohn’s is horrible. It is life changing. But it doesn’t have to prevent you from living your life and chasing your dreams.