Episode 1: From the cage to chemo, and back again

Dylan Evans faces the biggest fight of his life

In January Dylan Evans was diagnosed with a type of blood cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma. Through his life he'd fought more than most but this would be the biggest. A biological confrontation tougher than everything else.

Before the diagnosis Dylan had left his job to make a run at becoming a professional mixed martial arts fighter. Fighting six amateur bouts, he's earned a blue belt in BJJ and trains out of Renegade Fitness Academy in Stevenage. Then cancer happened.

More than halfway a course of chemotherapy, Dylan finishes treatment on August 10. Then the ambition becomes getting back in the cage.

The 23-year-old said: "I decided to make a run with a dream, I left my job and gave it everything I had. January of this year I was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. Since March this year I've been treated with chemotherapy every two weeks, I get treated and then I have two weeks to recover. It gets a bit tedious.

"I've been given the 'all-clear' by my haematologist already, less than halfway through the chemotherapy course. But like a course of antibiotics I have to finish it otherwise the cancer will come straight back.


"I'm now trying to rebuild what was taken away from me. The fitness I had, the strength I had. Countless hours of hard work I put in, that was taken away from me in such a small fraction of the time it took to build up.

"I'm declaring I'll be rebuilding now. I've got four treatments left, I had chemotherapy earlier today. Once I get to August 10 that's when I can think about putting a lot of effort into it.

"For the time being I'm doing what I can, I'm tired a lot of the time, as you can imagine chemotherapy is not pleasant.

"I used to be sick for days, it would reduce me to tears, I wouldn't sleep. Thankfully, it's got better over time, which I'm very grateful for.

"We're nearly at the end. I keep being praised for how positive I've remained over the whole thing and how I've dealt with it. I don't know how else I would deal with it.

"I was faced with a situation, I had no way out of it. It backed me into a corner and I could either curl up into a ball and cry about it or I could bite down on my gum shield and fight it like I would anything else."