Former England under-23 champion from Kent is fighting back from life-threatening illness, writes Stephen Yates

After watching live athletics since 2004, I attended the National Athletics League match at Woodford on July 15 where I saw high jumper Deborah Martin competing for Blackheath & Bromley. In 2014 she won the England under-23 title and I was happy to see her competing for the first time in a while, but the reason for her absence blew me away.

In May 2020 she had been suffering from an upset stomach for a month and decided to get see a doctor about it. Having undergone checks, she was about to receive the earth-shattering news that she had cancer in two areas at the age of just 26.

Not only did she have ovarian cancer in the right ovary she also had carcinoid cancer in her appendix. One of the lumps was the size of a grapefruit and she underwent open surgery to remove them. It meant she did not have chemotherapy or radiotherapy and after a three-day stay in hospital it took her four months to recover.

This meant she could only compete three times that season but in 2021 she competed seven times and won the Kent high jump outdoor title in addition to placing fifth in the British Championships with 1.72m (the Ashford athlete’s best is 1.80m).

This changed in 2022 when she made only two competitive events. Now 28, on a routine check to her doctor it was found that her cancer was back, this time in the left ovary and once again leading to open surgery.

On this occasion it took Deborah around eight months to recover and in order to get her “head right” as she told me. In both cancers she was lucky that they were discovered early, allowing her to enjoy a full recovery. This year she has competed several times and won the Kent outdoor high jump title for the 12th time in a season’s best of 1.61m (she has also won seven indoor county titles over the years).

Deborah told me that to fight these huge setbacks she used all of the resilience and mental strength which she has gained during 13 years of athletics competition. She also wants to thank all the people who have aided her recovery, such as the surgeons and staff at the Canterbury and Margate hospitals where she had her operations.

There is also of course her family and friends, including her colleagues the staff of Port Lympne Safari Park in Hythe, Kent, where Deborah has worked as a large carnivore keeper for the last 18 months. Before working there she had volunteered for 10 years at The Big Cat Sanctuary in Smarden, near Ashford in Kent, and she says people could not have been more supportive.

Now aged 29, Deborah’s message is for women to go for a check-up if they have symptoms such as losing their appetite for food, feeling full soon after eating, abdominal pains, sudden weight loss or gain and needing to visit the toilet.