news, health, pancreatic cancer, locally advanced pancreatic cancer, pancreatic cancer survivor, clay watts cancer, wimp to warrior, wimp 2 warrior
For Clay Watts, just stepping into the ring in less than a week will be a win. “And if I beat my opponent as well, that’s a bonus. That’s icing on the cake,” Mr Watts said. Eighteen months ago, Mr Watts weighed 58 kilograms and was undergoing gruelling treatment for locally advanced pancreatic cancer. Now, the 50-year-old is about to finish the 20-week Wimp-to-Warrior program, which gets people ready for their first mixed martial arts fight – sometimes known as cage fighting. Roughly 4000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year in Australia. About 80 per cent will not survive 12 months. In 2018, Mr Watts went to see a doctor with stomach pain and jaundice. Tests revealed a discolouration of the pancreas. The doctor, Mr Watts said, was more upset about the diagnosis than he was. “Without getting too philosophical, you don’t want to have any regrets. When he said that, he said, ‘You’ve got this tumour’, straight away I’m thinking back through my life. Is there anything I wish I’d done better or done at all? There was really nothing. [Maybe] crazy random stuff like climbing Mount Everest and stuff that’s probably out of your reach realistically for most people,” Mr Watts said. “I thought, I’ve had a good run. I’ll fight it now.” Through his course of chemotherapy, Mr Watt made sure to keep fit. “I think a lot of the cancer stuff is a mental game, to be honest. I think you could easily let it beat you mentally, or you can just fight it and move on the best you can. But I just thought, ‘What am I going to do? Am I going to sit at home and do my chemo and watch Netflix or whatever, or get out there and pump it through my system and keep moving?'” he said. The chemotherapy shrunk Mr Watts’ tumour enough that it could be operated on. After beating the cancer, Mr Watts said he wanted to do the craziest thing he could think of to raise some money and awareness. “To quote Shawshank Redemption: ‘You get busy living or get busy dying,'” he said. “My whole life, I’ve had a good upbringing and stuff like that. I never really quit. I was always competitive.” That’s why he signed up for the Wimp-to-Warrior program, which trains people up for their first mixed martial arts fight across 100 early morning training sessions. “In the morning, when I get up in bed I go, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ … But when you leave, you feel a 1000 per cent. It’s really great,” Mr Watts said. It’s not always easy going, though. The gym sessions at Hume’s Synergy Self Defence start at 6am most weekdays – and Mr Watts had to learn not to go too hard. About halfway into the program, he realised he couldn’t let down those who’d donated to his charity drive for PanKind, the Australian Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, by getting silly injuries. “I decided I’d take a break every now and then, not train as hard on the weekend and stuff like that, work on my cardio. And cardio’s everything, I’ve learnt. You think you’re fit, then when you’re sparring for three minutes, you go, ‘Was that three minutes?’ It was only like one minute,” he said. So far, he has raised more than $9000. Mr Watts said Joe Heiden, a fellow pancreatic cancer survivor who went on to compete on American Ninja Warrior, had been a big inspiration as a rare success story. READ MORE: He said he wanted to share his story to show others going through treatment that there were success stories. “There’s some good news stories, but mostly it’s just – you know the stats … There’s no good at all. You just go, ‘There’s got to be some good news out there!’ There’s got to be something,” Mr Watts said. When Mr Watts gets into the ring on March 6, he’ll have made quite the journey. Cancer survivor Clay Watts will become “The Claymore”, his fighting name taken from the Scottish broadsword. “That’s why I’m doing this fight. Don’t be 70 and go, ‘Gee, I wish I’d had a cage fight’,” he said. “Because one minute you’re fit and healthy, the next minute you’ve got pancreatic cancer.”
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For Clay Watts, just stepping into the ring in less than a week will be a win.
“And if I beat my opponent as well, that’s a bonus. That’s icing on the cake,” Mr Watts said.
Eighteen months ago, Mr Watts weighed 58 kilograms and was undergoing gruelling treatment for locally advanced pancreatic cancer.
Now, the 50-year-old is about to finish the 20-week Wimp-to-Warrior program, which gets people ready for their first mixed martial arts fight – sometimes known as cage fighting.
Roughly 4000 people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year in Australia. About 80 per cent will not survive 12 months.
In 2018, Mr Watts went to see a doctor with stomach pain and jaundice. Tests revealed a discolouration of the pancreas.
The doctor, Mr Watts said, was more upset about the diagnosis than he was.
“Without getting too philosophical, you don’t want to have any regrets. When he said that, he said, ‘You’ve got this tumour’, straight away I’m thinking back through my life. Is there anything I wish I’d done better or done at all? There was really nothing. [Maybe] crazy random stuff like climbing Mount Everest and stuff that’s probably out of your reach realistically for most people,” Mr Watts said.
‘You get busy living or get busy dying,’ Clay Watts says. Picture: Keegan Carroll
“I thought, I’ve had a good run. I’ll fight it now.”
Through his course of chemotherapy, Mr Watt made sure to keep fit.
“I think a lot of the cancer stuff is a mental game, to be honest. I think you could easily let it beat you mentally, or you can just fight it and move on the best you can. But I just thought, ‘What am I going to do? Am I going to sit at home and do my chemo and watch Netflix or whatever, or get out there and pump it through my system and keep moving?'” he said.
The chemotherapy shrunk Mr Watts’ tumour enough that it could be operated on.
After beating the cancer, Mr Watts said he wanted to do the craziest thing he could think of to raise some money and awareness.
“To quote Shawshank Redemption: ‘You get busy living or get busy dying,'” he said.
“My whole life, I’ve had a good upbringing and stuff like that. I never really quit. I was always competitive.”
That’s why he signed up for the Wimp-to-Warrior program, which trains people up for their first mixed martial arts fight across 100 early morning training sessions.
Clay Watts gets into form ahead of his first MMA bout in March. Picture: Keegan Carroll
“In the morning, when I get up in bed I go, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ … But when you leave, you feel a 1000 per cent. It’s really great,” Mr Watts said.
It’s not always easy going, though. The gym sessions at Hume’s Synergy Self Defence start at 6am most weekdays – and Mr Watts had to learn not to go too hard.
About halfway into the program, he realised he couldn’t let down those who’d donated to his charity drive for PanKind, the Australian Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, by getting silly injuries.
“I decided I’d take a break every now and then, not train as hard on the weekend and stuff like that, work on my cardio. And cardio’s everything, I’ve learnt. You think you’re fit, then when you’re sparring for three minutes, you go, ‘Was that three minutes?’ It was only like one minute,” he said.
So far, he has raised more than $9000.
Mr Watts said Joe Heiden, a fellow pancreatic cancer survivor who went on to compete on American Ninja Warrior, had been a big inspiration as a rare success story.
He said he wanted to share his story to show others going through treatment that there were success stories.
“There’s some good news stories, but mostly it’s just – you know the stats … There’s no good at all. You just go, ‘There’s got to be some good news out there!’ There’s got to be something,” Mr Watts said.
When Mr Watts gets into the ring on March 6, he’ll have made quite the journey. Cancer survivor Clay Watts will become “The Claymore”, his fighting name taken from the Scottish broadsword.
“That’s why I’m doing this fight. Don’t be 70 and go, ‘Gee, I wish I’d had a cage fight’,” he said.
