Filipino ultra runner Fredelyn Alberto stays strong despite cancer diagnosis just 6 weeks after giving birth – ‘if there’s treatment, then there’s hope’
- The Hong Kong-based domestic helper is a stalwart of local ultra running scene with several big race wins under her belt
- Trail community is rallying to Alberto’s cause with donations to help cover costs for chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy
Hong Kong ultra running community stalwart Fredelyn Alberto has been diagnosed with cancer just six weeks after giving birth.
The Hong Kong-based Filipino domestic helper burst onto the scene in 2018 winning the MSIG Braemar Hill 45km and the 75km Green Race, and has been an ever present at races and on podiums ever since.
“It’s just devastating. It’s just so sad,” Alberto – who was in contention to win the Asia Trail Masters series in 2019 until the final weekend – said. “I just cried once. After that, I haven’t cried.
“It was just when the doctor told me face to face that I felt my reality had come. After that, I’m facing all the treatments. I’m not worried that I won’t get cured, I’m just being positive. If there’s treatment, then there’s hope.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up by colleagues of Alberto’s husband Marc Sexton to help covert the cost of her treatment.
Alberto’s insurance has covered the first five rounds of her chemotherapy, but she still needs one more. She will then start radiotherapy, and has been advised to undergo immunotherapy too.
“Every morning, I wish I could run, just a little run. But I can’t. I just get exhausted so easily. And my immune system is not really good and my haemoglobin levels are not so good either. I easily get dizzy.”
When Alberto gave birth to her daughter, she was told she could start running again six weeks. But when the time was up, she was still suffering from what she thought were post-partum issues. Heavy bleeding sent her to accident and emergency, where doctors found abnormal cells.
“I was putting the baby to bed, and I was sleeping in the afternoon, and they called me and said ‘I have the result’,” she said. “They told me I had to go to the oncologist.
“I had no idea what an oncologist was. I researched, and found out they treat cancer. It opened my mind, and I researched and researched why I had to go.
“I was just nervous – why would I go and see an oncologist? When I went, that’s when everything poured down on me, that’s when reality hit that I have cancer. I felt like, ‘Am I going to die? Or am I going to get cured?’”
The first three rounds of chemotherapy badly affected Alberto. It gave her a fever and she had to change drugs.
“I was really worried as my husband has to go to work. I didn’t know who to contact to look after my baby, and she was just so tiny,” Alberto said. “I had been to the hospital for one week in the first cycle, and luckily I have some friends in the Filipino community. There is just so much love for my family.
“The running community is helping me so much. Even though I haven’t met them all, they are pouring their love and support. It’s helping me, not just financially but my morale too.”
When running an ultra marathon, Alberto uses positive thinking to see out the hardest times on the trails.
“I am carrying that experience now,” Alberto said. “There is nothing I cannot fight. In running, I think about my family and what I love, the people who surround me and love me. They keep me strong.”
