Teen cancer patient finishes 3,000 push-up challenge

A teenager who has been through three years of cancer treatment has completed 3,000 push-ups in 30 days to raise money for charity.

Adam Dabrowski, 15, from Newhall, South Derbyshire, was diagnosed with cancer when he was 12, but has recently been told he is in remission.

He took on the challenge with his father to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust and the pair completed 100 push-ups each a day, for 30 days.

Adam said: "I ended up gaining a lot of weight that I needed to lose so I thought the charity challenge would be a good idea and it's to help the charity that helped me."

Adam, who is a student at Blessed Robert Catholic Voluntary Academy in Burton-upon-Trent, was diagnosed with leukaemia at the end of Year 7 after he started to become short of breath, even when lying down.

He said: "At that age I had no idea what that meant but I knew it was bad when my mum started to cry.

"I was given a three-year plan for chemotherapy. It was also happening at the time of Covid so I had to be really careful to avoid infections.

"I lost most of my muscle mass and my grandma had to come over from Poland to help look after me. I was having trouble getting up the stairs, trouble even standing, I was really weak.

"I missed a lot of school but after the first nine months, I then went down to having chemotherapy every day in tablets."

Adam also had weekly blood tests, chemotherapy once a month in hospital and a lumbar puncture every three months.

He is now receiving monthly check-ups and is at school full-time to prepare for his GCSE exams next year.

His dad, Mariusz, suggested the pair take on the charity push-up challenge at a celebration to mark his son going into remission.

Adam said: "As the days went on, I found I could do 40 to 50 push ups in one go. I'm just excited to feel like myself now and I can live my life like kids my age do."

Mariusz added: "We are proud of Adam's strength and resilience.

"It seems now like ages ago but we remember every moment of his journey. We cannot thank the doctors and nurses enough who looked after our son."

Samuel Gray, head teacher at Blessed Robert Sutton, said: "As the new head I was so sad to hear of Adam's journey, yet it has been so inspiring to see him around school smiling and with so many friends around him.

"To now embark on a mission to support others like him is truly inspiring."

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