Ex-cancer patient attempts the world rowing record
Cancer survivor Thomas Cremona is trying to write his name in the record books as he attempts to row consistently for 24 hours. Mr Cremona, 22, kicked off his personal challenge yesterday at noon at Bay Street in St George’s Bay where he settled into...
Cancer survivor Thomas Cremona is trying to write his name in the record books as he attempts to row consistently for 24 hours.
Mr Cremona, 22, kicked off his personal challenge yesterday at noon at Bay Street in St George’s Bay where he settled into his rowing machine five minutes before his father fired their home-made starting ‘gun’.
“I’m really excited – I can’t wait to do it,” he told The Sunday Times with a huge grin.
He quickly set up the machine, carefully inputting all the settings to get him through the night and – hopefully – all the way to noon today with the exception of 10-minute breaks every hour.
“How much time left?” Mr Cremona asked quickly while setting up the machine. “One minute” was the reply.
He sat back into the seat, gripped the handles and smiled at his family. At the stroke of noon, his father blew into a brown paper bag and burst it and Mr Cremona started rowing.
The young accountant decided to try to break the world record for the longest continuous row as a fundraiser for Puttinu Cares Foundation, which helps out children with cancer and their families.
At the age of four, Mr Cremona was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. He spent about four weeks in hospital followed by nine months of chemotherapy.
After years of regular medical check-ups, his cancer was found to be in remission.
“I want to promote the message through my campaign, Row4Cancer, to cancer patients and survivors that there is life beyond cancer,” Mr Cremona said.
The record he is trying to break belongs to Briton Vincent Brunning from Plymouth, for 20 hours of rowing in October 2009.
Watched by his parents and cheered on by his friends, Mr Cremona paced his rowing and even found the breath to give a short comment to a television station. Mr Cremona’s rowing campaign also includes another fundraising event when he will attempt to be the first Maltese person to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The young athlete will form part of a group of six rowers from various countries, who will aim to break the mid-Atlantic rowing speed record, which currently stands at 33 days, seven hours and 30 minutes.
The team will row an 11.1 metre-long boat, from Morocco to Barbados in January.