The 23-year-old climber is a prominent member of the Slovenian national team.
You never really know how many people are affected by something until you start talking about it, and cancer is no different. You don’t realise how many people you know who are touched by this disease in one way or another.
Earlier, for World Cancer Day, I shared the conversation I had with Song Yunchan, and to show the point there’s more people than you realise, I also caught up quickly with another climber affected by cancer - Slovenia’s Lučka Rakovec.
Lučka is a 23-year-old who has won multiple medals at European Youth events in both Boulder and Lead and even has a European Championships gold to her name from Edinburgh in 2019.
First competing at an IFSC World Cup Kranj 2017 in her homeland, two years later she returned to take a bronze in Lead. Now, World Cup appearances took a bit of a step back in priorities. But Lučka has always known climbing will play a big part of her future.
“I’ve been climbing for around 15 years now. I started climbing in first grade of primary school as an afternoon activity and I knew then it was something I wanted to do for life.”
I was always a very active child with doctors often commenting on this during my check-ups, so I know being on the world stage as an athlete puts you in tune with your body and differences in output, or even feelings you aren’t quite right, can often seem very big and obvious, even if you don’t know the cause.
“I was competing at World Cups, and at the end of 2023 I had some virus going on. Because of this the doctors did some blood work, and they noticed big deviations in my thyroid hormone levels.
“Some more tests after this confirmed I had cancer. I was definitely in shock; I surely didn’t expect to hear such a thing at 23.”
Thyroid cancer is a growth of cells that starts in the thyroid. The thyroid is a gland located at the base of the neck. The thyroid produces hormones that regulate heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and weight.
Like most cancers, it can hide and not show any symptoms for a long time before it really starts affecting the body.
“I guess I was still climbing when I had cancer as I do not really know how long I actually had it, but after I found out I didn’t climb until my surgery and also a few months after that.”
There are many forms of treatment for cancer depending on how severe and what type of cancer you have, for Lučka, it was surgery.
“I had total thyroidectomy, which involved removing the entire thyroid gland.
“The whole thing was stressful and mentally really tough, but the procedure was not so bad although it involved a lot of pain and discomfort afterwards. I will have to take supplementing hormones for the rest of my life, but in terms of surgeries and stuff I am done. Healthwise I am not at a 100% yet but hopefully will be there soon.”
Taking supplements for the rest of her life will not be the only way cancer will affect her from now on. I haven’t spoken to Lučka much at events, just the odd interview here and there, but even after a very brief conversation I can tell she is thinking the same way I did when I had the news and finished my treatment.
“I am okay-ish. Some days are better than others. Maybe it sounds weird but it’s hard for such a thing not to define you and leave you with some anxiety about life. I am working hard on becoming me again, but there are ups and downs on the way.”
It’s not a weird thing at all. Most days I don’t think about cancer at all. But for sure it has defined me as a person, how can something that big not?
Lučka is the only one who will know and can shape how she is defined by her cancer. Just like anyone else in the climbing community I’m sure she will be supported by a great group of people, it may just look a little different to others now.
This was just a very short conversation because even if I have that cancer link, it’s not something you just deep dive into without getting to know someone a bit more. I know I will talk to Lučka more, not just about cancer, and I hope to bring you more from her and her results at international events in the future.
For now, all I can do is thank Lučka for her time, let her know she is not alone, tell her that she has the support of the whole climbing community, and leave you with her thoughts on the future: “Well, firstly my goal is to get completely healthy and back to functioning normally. Climbing wise, I want to get to the point where I once already was or even surpass that.”
I’d like to think everyone wants the same for Lučka, I know I do.
