Diagnosed With Colon Cancer, Sliema Chef Is Now Taking On Major Physical Challenge – Mount Everest
Miguel Gatt was driving when he felt a sharp pain in his bottom right abdomen.
Little did he know it, but he was about to have his life turned upside down, coming closer to death than he ever had before.
“I was taken to hospital where a CT scan found that my colon was perforated,” Miguel recounts to Lovin Malta.
“A little later I was in surgery, and was told I was in a critical condition. A huge chuck of my colon was removed before I knew it, and a colostomy bag attached to my abdomen.”
A few days later, he was informed that a tumour had been removed, and everything seemed to be going fine. The colostomy bag was eventually reversed as well.
Until one night, when Miguel woke up in utter pain. The tumour was back with a vengeance, and there wasn’t enough colon left to risk another surgery, so chemotherapy was the next best option. Miguel was just 33.
“The doctors told me I was moments away from death. It was like I was being poisoned, and the whole time I never had any clue any of this was happening, just moments away from the end… ”
The shock rocked Miguel’s world, and he ended up in a negative spiral, battling suicidal thoughts at times. In a rut, a friend recommended he watch 14 Peaks on Netflix – and he began to see the light and find a new drive.
Now, he’s fighting his own body to take on the largest mountain in the world – Mount Everest in the Himalayas, in February 2023. Oh, and he’s also taking on Morocco’s Mt Toubkal in May, 2023 to boot.
Miguel Gatt
Miguel, a chef who loves to experiment with flavours at Sliema’s Pjazza Gelateria, is using some of his darkest moment to propel him forward.
“I think of the times I was unable to walk, to move, to even go to the bathroom or eat on my own,” Miguel remembers vividly. “I have gone so far, challenging myself, fighting through the physical pain and mental exhaustion.”
“People don’t realise the stress on your mental health this causes,” he continued. “I spent months suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder… there were time where I had to change my sheets twice a night and sleep on towels due to night tremors and chills.”
He’s taken on a strict physical regime to prepare his body for the mammoth task; over two years of training, he lost 35kg, and consistently goes trekking with a backpack alongside his daily cardio and weight training four times a week .
In an ironic twist under his new fitness regime, Miguel feels like he’s in the best shape of his life today.
“I have been given the go-ahead from all my doctors to smash my goals, as long as I keep taking my medications and perform regular checkups.”
Miguel is keenly aware of how close he was to death, and how his body began to fail him.
After Everest, he intends of taking on the so-called seven summits – the highest seven mountains in each traditional continent.
“I was so close to the end, I never thought before this ordeal happened that I would even be able to trek Mt Etna, let alone attempt the seven summits,” Miguel said. “I just want everyone to know that if we search deep down inside, we all have the will and the power to achieve anything great in our lives.”
Face to face with his own mortality, Miguel is now energised and determined to achieve whatever he sets his mind to.
“I spent years hoping to do something someday, putting it off and telling myself ‘I’ll do it in the future’. We have one life – embrace it, follow your dreams, challenge yourself, smash your goals, and do it now!
“Because one day, it might be the end of the line – and I do not want to lay on my death bed full of regret, wishing I’d done it,” he ends clearly.
“I would have rather tried it and failed, than not tried it at all.”
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