‘Never give up’ is the Sloan family motto, and it’s so heart-felt that Andrew Sloan even has it tattooed on his forearm. 

Andrew has had more reasons than most to take things a bit easy, after the recurrence earlier this year of a brain tumour which was first discovered in 2018.

He clearly remembers one of his first surgeons telling him he would never ride his bike again, and that he should “focus on walking around the block with your wife”.

“I thought: ‘You said that to the wrong person’,” Andrew told the Wānaka App.

Five and a half years later, cancer isn’t stopping Andrew’s plans to compete in the gruelling Coast to Coast two-day event next February. Remarkably, Andrew is training for the multisport event in between sessions of chemotherapy. 

Andrew Sloan: adding life to his days. PHOTO: Wānaka App

The discovery of the slow-growing tumour on his brain “turned our world upside down” in 2018, Andrew said. He and wife Cherie’s sons were four, six, and eight at the time.

The tumour (oligodendroglioma) was “like a paintball splattered on the brain”, he said.

Andrew’s right temporal lobe was removed in the first (six hour) operation, leaving a cavity the size of his fist. The operation affected some of his cognition and short term memory. 

“A little bit of me was taken away with each surgery,” he said. 

But he kept on riding his bike to work - as a year 8 teacher at Te Kura o Tititea Mount Aspiring College (MAC).

He rode the Motutapu mountain bike event in 2019, and it went so well he decided to try the Contact Epic mountain bike race around Lake Hāwea. 

Andrew after the Wānaka Challenge Multi, with 11-year-old son Charlie. PHOTO: Lennon Bright 

Andrew was happy to prove that first surgeon wrong, and he continued to have regular scans, all of which came back clear for five years. 

Early this year he was teaching a friend some paddling skills on the Clutha when the friend asked if he’d ever thought about getting back into multisport.

The comment “planted the seed”, Andrew said. He had competed in the Coast to Coast five times before, the last time being 18 years ago. 

Soon after that conversation he received a call from another old friend, now the operations manager at outdoor store Bivouac, saying “I’d like to help out”.

Graeme had competed in the Coast to Coast with Andrew in 2004; (Andrew’s last Coast to Coast had been in 2006). Cost was a barrier for Andrew, but Bivouac’s logo is “committed to adventure”, and Graeme told him “we’ll commit to your adventure”.

Just weeks later, in March, a scan identified a new tumour growing into the cavity, and on the back of Andrew’s frontal lobe.

“It’s like cooch in your garden,” Andrew said. He committed to “prepare for the worst and hope for the best”.

The surgery in May could have affected the language centre of his brain, so Andrew and Cherie spent three weeks learning how to communicate via sign language in case Andrew woke up without the ability to speak.

Luckily, when he woke up “they couldn’t shut me up”, he said.

Mastering the Rubik’s cube had been one of Andrew’s challenges to improve neuroplasticity after the first surgery, when a lot of reading was too tiring for his vision. After the surgery in May, Cherie took the cube into the Intensive Care Unit and Andrew groggily solved it in a few minutes. 

After the scan result, Andrew had to take medical retirement after 23 years of teaching (nine of them at MAC). He was officially farewelled by MAC staff last week..

“I loved my time teaching but I couldn’t keep up with the speed and momentum,” he said. He felt like he was operating on dial-up while those around him were on ultra-fast broadband.

“I miss the interactions with the students, connecting with them and finding their spark. I always prided myself on inspiring them.”

But Andrew seems to be inspiring other members of the community with his approach to life. 

“It’s not all smiles and roses,” he says, but he adds that he wants to “resonate with a positive attitude”.

“No one knows how many days are in your life. The only thing you can control is the life you put into your days.”

He attended an appointment in Christchurch soon after his surgery and decided he may as well get in some Coast to Coast training while he was there: he walked from the airport to Merivale, then took a Lime scooter back to catch the flight home after the appointment. 

The next time he arrived at Dunstan Hospital for an appointment, the nurses said: “Ah, you’re the crazy bugger who walked to your appointment!”

“They’re probably not used to patients being that motivated,” he said, adding that the medical staff are generally supportive of his plans for the Coast to Coast. 

Nonetheless Andrew always trains with an emergency kit and card, and he balances exercise, diet, sleep and meditation.

A fan of inspirational phrases, Andrew was recently struck by a motto of the late Sir Tim Wallis: “Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do”.

“Everyone’s got their challenges,” he said. “Until you get thrown some challenges you don’t know how you’re going to react.”

In keeping with the family motto (‘never give up’) and another favourite phrase (‘be the best version of yourself, every day’), he is tackling his Coast to Coast training against a backdrop of IV infusions, blood tests, and hundreds of pills. He’s just finished the second chemotherapy cycle out of six. Each cycle lasts 42 days.

He competed in the Integrity Homes Challenge Wānaka multi the day he finished the first chemo cycle - his first multisport event in six years. He completed the 25km paddle, 43km mountain bike ride, and 14km run in six hours and 30 minutes.

“I’m that bloke in the middle of the race, cheering people along,” he said.

The Coast to Coast, on February 10, 2024, involves a 3km run, 55km cycle, and 33km mountain run over Goat Pass on the first day. On day two it’s a 15km cycle, 67 km kayak, and 70km cycle.

“That sort of thing spins my wheels,” Andrew said. 

His training regimen now includes running every morning for 5-10km with the family dog, and cycling in the middle of the day. He’s also “got a few good hill missions planned”.

The definition of adventure is that the outcome is not guaranteed, Andrew said, but he is looking forward to the event in February.

“It’s a big goal to tick off,” he said.