For World Cancer Day we check in with two climbers who have returned to Climbing after dealing with cancer.
This time last year we learned about two climbers who had been affected by cancer – Yunchan Song and Lučka Rakovec. For this World Cancer Day we check back in with them to see how they are doing on their own personal journeys.
The reality of cancer is that it is still a disease that affects millions of people around the world, in different ways, and to different degrees. A lot of people are negatively affected, and the harsh reality is there are still a lot of people who never come out the other side.
For our two climbers, it’s only positive here. So, let’s check in with these two amazing people.
LUČKA’S BACK, AND WITH A BANG
Lučka had to take the whole of the 2024 season off from competing after a Thyroid cancer diagnosis in 2023. 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.
Speaking to us last year in her Conversation with... Lučka said “I was definitely in shock; I surely didn’t expect to hear such a thing at 23.”
I’m sure we all would be with that news, but that didn’t stop Lučka making a stunning comeback to the World Cup circuit in 2025. After Lead qualification in Innsbruck, Austria in her first competition back with us Lučka said:
"It's amazing. It's been a long time since I've been competing, it's special, but I was extremely nervous! I don't think I have ever been this nervous before a competition. I'm not good anymore at dealing with stress. After the first route I felt way better, I guess I just needed to break the ice.
"The competition circuit hasn't changed. I missed the people, I missed the experience, the atmosphere, everything."
We missed her, but it was like she was never away eventually making the final and finishing eighth. She was also named as our Athlete of the Week.
It wasn’t just a one off for Lučka either. In Chamonix she finished in 17th, and in Madrid she was 13th. But on her home turf she finished in fifth at the Climbing World Cup in Koper before heading to Seoul for the World Championships and once again making the final finishing seventh overall.
Lučka featured in the World Climbing Club during the event in Koper and when she sat down with Matt Groom talked through her return and her feelings when she wasn’t on the international circuit. She said: "I felt worse when I wasn’t climbing, and I forgot about it when I was climbing", and that climbing had "kept her going."
It probably wasn’t a surprise to hear climbing played such a big part during this time in her life, but it just enforces the power of sport and the climbing community.
The future for Lučka, well good or bad you always carry a bit of cancer with you forever, whether that is physically or mentally. For Lučka her treatment – "I had total thyroidectomy, which involved removing the entire thyroid gland." – means that she will be on medication for the rest of her life to regulate hormones, but I think that’s a small price to pay to see her happy and healthy and enjoying the thing that she loves the most – climbing.
THE PLAN IS STILL LA28 FOR YUNCHAN
“First of all, my current goal is to climb again in good health. Furthermore, my goal is LA28.” – those are the words Yunchan told me last year when we spoke, so let’s see how they are coming along.
For me, as much as I would live to see Yunchan at LA28, I would rather see that he is in good health, and catching up with him I’m so pleased to say he is.
“I’m completely done with my treatment and I’m preparing little by little to come back.”
Anyone following these Conversation with... stories will know both myself and Yunchan had the same cancer – Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, so I know exactly the feeling of finishing treatment, and I’m so happy Yunchan is at this stage now.
Yunchan has been climbing since he finished his treatment and about six months after even got back onto the podium with a bronze medal in the Korean Youth Championship, a competition that meant a lot to him.
The now 18-year-old said: “I participated in the youth system for the first time in two years, it was a very meaningful competition for me.”
So, good health - check. LA28 – still loading.
If you believe in fate, my catch up with Yunchan came a day after the qualification system for LA28 was confirmed by the IOC…so now at least he will know the path he has to take.
Climbing aside for a moment, what is the current status with Yunchan and his cancer?
“It’s been about a year since the treatment, and now we’re doing a CT scan every six months.
“I’m very happy and thankful to finish treatment. I feel that these moments are very precious.”
That day when you finish treatment is a massive day, and with that now behind him Yunchan can look to his other future goal.
“I’ve gotten a lot better in terms of physical strength. My first goal is to aim for the Korean national Cup, and then as I have said before, I’m aiming for the LA Olympics.”
I signed off Yunchan’s ‘Conversation with…’ feature by saying that although I should be impartial, I am rooting for Yunchan to reach his goal. That hasn’t changed. For Yunchan, for Lučka, for anyone. But the best news from both of these two people, is that they are happy and healthy, everything else can come after that.
