Husband and wife Paul and Karen Jeffrey won gold at the Jupiters Pan Pacific Masters Games indoor rowing competition. Photo: Angela Bacic
Friday 11 November 2016
By Angela Bacic
Mount Nathan husband and wife, Paul and Karen Jeffery, have overcome major medical hurdles to compete in the indoor rowing at the Jupiters Pan Pacific Masters Games (JPPMG).
In 2003, Karen, 54, was diagnosed with breast cancer and after going into complete remission she became a successful bodybuilder, winning state, national and southern hemisphere masters titles.
Paul, 53, had competed in state-level basketball when he was younger and ran the 5km event at the 2009 Gold Coast Airport Marathon.
But tragedy stuck again when Karen was diagnosed with a deadly form of brain cancer just eight years after beating breast cancer.
“I was told I would die within months,” Karen said.
While Paul was visiting his wife in the hospital during her complete remission from brain cancer in August, 2015, he picked up a near fatal combination of influenza A and B.
“He has never been sick a day in his life,” Karen said.
“He was the healthiest man I know.”
Paul was in a coma for six weeks, had to be resuscitated twice and experienced organ failure while in the hospital.
The illness ravaged his body. His lung capacity was greatly reduced while his kidney function was down to 60 per cent.
But despite the pair going through hell and back over the past few years, they decided to participate in the JPPMG to improve their fitness and it all started with a friend gifting them an indoor rower.
They have never looked back.
While the pair knew winning was not everything, they both produced outstanding performances in indoor rowing on Wednesday and Thursday.
Karen aimed to be in the top three, but said: “Winning would be wonderful.”
She won gold in the 500m event while setting a new games record for her division and came fourth in the 1000m event.
While Paul, who is just happy he can walk up the stairs again, made a huge sprint to the finish line to win gold in the 500m indoor rowing event while setting a new Australian record.
But their biggest achievement was not winning a medal or setting new records.
“Our biggest achievement is just being alive,” Karen said.
Karen and Paul hope to return for the Jupiters Pan Pacific Masters Games in 2018, buoyed by the atmosphere they experienced during this year’s event.
The 10th biennial Jupiters Pan Pacific Masters Games is being held 5 – 13 November 2016 on the beautiful Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
The world’s biggest and best biennial masters games showcases competition in 43 team and individual sports and has attracted about 13,000 participants from Queensland, interstate and overseas.
