Lili-Fox Mason is a champion when it comes to beating the odds. Photo / Woman's Day
She may not have brought home a medal from the Paralympic Games in Paris last year, but Lili-Fox Mason is a champion when it comes to beating the odds.
The 20-year-old’s not only overcome leukaemia – and a disability caused by cancer treatment – to become a full-time athlete, but she’s also helping other children with their cancer journeys.
Earlier this year, she spent a week volunteering at Camp Quality in Christchurch, one of five camps around Aotearoa that provide recreational activities for more than 300 youngsters suffering from cancer. It’s the same camp she attended for seven consecutive years after being diagnosed with leukaemia as a 3-year-old.
“Having been through cancer and attended Camp Quality, I know how important it is for kids to be in a friendly environment where they feel safe and comfortable, and aren’t defined by their cancer, but can just be themselves with no judgment,” she says.
“I wanted to give back to the community because my companion at camp had helped me so much over the years.”
The nonprofit organisation, which turns 40 this year, pairs individual campers with a companion who helps them get ready each morning, joins them in arts and crafts, and accompanies them on activities, such as helicopter rides.
In January, Lili-Fox spent a week being a companion to Indi Wealleans, a 9-year-old bone cancer survivor.
“Indi really reminded me of me at that age – super-energetic and a pocketful of sunshine!” she enthuses.
Speaking to Woman’s Day from the Christchurch home she shares with her mother and younger sister Meg, Lili-Fox says the experience of being a companion turned out to be even better than she expected.
“It was so much fun going back to camp, but this time, helping Indi get used to being away from home and enjoying being with other kids who were going through the same thing as she was. Being in that situation really makes you feel less alone in your cancer journey.”
Lili-Fox was 3 when a fall from a rocking horse led to a diagnosis of leukaemia, a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow.
“My legs really hurt after the fall, but the doctor couldn’t find anything wrong,” she recalls.
When the pain persisted, her parents took her to a spinal specialist, who took one look at Lili-Fox and told her parents that they urgently needed to have her blood tested. “They did, and that’s when doctors found the cancer.”
What followed were months of chemotherapy and blood transfusions. One morning, a few months into her treatment, Lili-Fox woke up in hospital and attempted to get to the bathroom. She didn’t make it, instead falling to the ground.
“It turns out I’d lost the use of all the muscles in my right leg from the cancer treatment and was partially paralysed.”
Unable to walk, she had to learn how to get around in a wheelchair. After several operations, including having a growth block inserted into her leg to ensure that one leg wasn’t longer than the other, and intensive occupational therapy, she graduated to a walker.
“It was a lot of hard work and pretty painful, but I eventually was able to walk by myself, even though I still have a slight limp,” she says.
It didn’t, however, stop the active youngster from playing netball and swimming.
“I can’t run far, so netball was painful, but I started swimming lessons, which didn’t cause me any pain. I joined a swim club and started to take it more seriously, competing in para swimming in the 400m freestyle and 100m butterfly events.”
That culminated in being picked for New Zealand’s Paralympic squad to compete in Paris last July. And although the full-time athlete didn’t make it to the finals, she says the experience was “mind-blowing”.
She enthuses, “Being in Paris and staying at the athlete’s village was unbelievable. Mentally, I got so much out of competing – it gave me such a high that I wanted to keep going with my swimming career.”
Lili-Fox, who’s been in remission for 12 years, trains for around 12 hours a week in the pool and does three gym sessions. She’s recently started a part-time job working for a tenancy agency.
“The ultimate goal is competing in the LA Paralympics in 2028,” she says. “But I’m also keen to volunteer again at Camp Quality. I have such amazing memories from when I attended as a child that I want to be able to make those same memories, and do some awesome things for a child going through what is really a very scary and horrible time.”