'Walking is just what I do' – the Magic of Walking for Dipak
As part of National Walking Month back in May, Dipak Rao from Leicester took part in our magic of walking challenge and shared her story with us afterwards.
Dipak discovered the magic of walking during treatment for breast cancer in 2021. Here she tells us how walking helped her during her treatment and recovery.
When I was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago, I turned to walking for solace. For me, keeping a positive mindset during my illness was very important, and walking, which I’ve always done, really helped with that. It was the idea of being able to walk outdoors that kept me motivated to recover. I’m fully recovered now, and I still love walking.
During my treatment, when I often felt very weak and unwell, my family bought me a smartwatch with a step tracker. I started with a target of walking 1,000 steps a day, which I did by walking around the house – sometimes only going from my bedroom to the bathroom – and stepping outside the front door.
I had two rules while I was undergoing therapy: one was that I couldn’t stay in bed during the daytime, unless I was feeling especially unwell, and two was that every single day I would try to go outside to walk.
I had good days and bad during the treatment and sometimes walking was very difficult, but I stuck to my guns. I can be very determined when I want to be!
There were a few days when I needed to use a wheelchair and that made me even more determined that I wanted to keep moving if I could. The steroids I was prescribed made me bloated and at times I felt like I couldn’t control my legs or my body, but I kept walking.
"Walking helps me live life to the full. I wouldn’t be without it."
It wasn’t easy and I felt such fatigue (chemotherapy can be incredibly hard on one’s body) so I watched hiking programmes with my sister, Panna, to keep me going!
As my health (and energy levels) gradually improved, I started going on longer walks with my friends. I decided that at some point I would walk London’s 16 bridges with my friend Margaret and Panna – and we did!
I remember starting radiotherapy in the December and the following February I walked around Stanage Edge in the Peak District with my friends, which felt like a huge achievement. My friends were a huge help, and they very much had an attitude of ‘let’s do this’ and ‘we’ll help you’. I found that telling them about my walking ambitions held me accountable as they’d remind me of what I’d said!
For me, walking has always been more achievable than having an expensive gym membership. Walking costs nothing, but it’s also scalable: you can do two minutes or ten, depending on your level of fitness. Even when I was really unwell, and my usual walk around the block took me half an hour instead of ten minutes, it still felt manageable. I knew that I could do it – eventually! Knowing that I had Panna’s support if I needed it helped a lot too.
My family and I joke that my walking has ‘gears’ and when I start walking with a waddle, slowly but surely transformed into striding. That’s the magic of my ‘gears’ – or the magic of walking.
Because I received much of my treatment during lockdown, walking was one of the few ways I could spend time with friends and family because it was an outdoor activity. I remember going out walking every day with my sister.
Being outdoors lifted my spirits even when I was initially too afraid to leave the house. Walking gave me courage, strength – both physically and mentally – and independence. If I could walk, I would be able to do other small tasks in my daily life.
This confidence in walking led to confidence in other areas of my life.
I joined wellbeing walks with Leicester City Council, Bradgate Park and Charnwood’s Active Together. Eventually, I decided to give something back and enrolled for training to lead walks.
Now, walking is just what I do. I walk daily and recently walked ten miles, something I never would have dreamed of when I had breast cancer. From September, I’ll be leading a weekly wellbeing walk with Active Together. The walk will be around a mile where people with all levels of fitness and mobility are welcome to join.
Walking helps me live life to the full. I wouldn’t be without it
About the author
Living Streets