Two-time leukaemia survivor sets New Zealand's first unofficial ice-bath record
Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Josh Komen was “freezing for a bloody good reason” while setting an unofficial New Zealand ice-bath record of 21 minutes.
Komen, 35, along with dozens of supporters, stripped off and took the plunge in large inflatable baths filled with 2C water in Christchurch on Wednesday to raise money for the charity that saved his life.
He was silent and in the zone, using breathing techniques to conquer the freezing task while friends, family and fellow cancer survivors each took turns in the water in two minutes intervals around him.
When Komen, of Greymouth, emerged from the water he was bright red and grinning.
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More than $74,000 had been raised for Ranui House as of Wednesday evening, following a month-long campaign, with donations still being counted.
Ranui House, run by the Bone Marrow Cancer Trust, is a short walk from Christchurch Hospital and a home away from home for out of town patients requiring life-saving treatment.
It was where Komen spent 474 nights between 2011 and 2016 while undergoing treatment after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, a type of cancer of the blood.
He was 23 when he was first diagnosed, and had aspirations of being a high-performance runner, even claiming a national championship 800m silver medal.
Through fighting times, Komen remembers the people at Ranui as his “lifeline”, both giving him strength and physically saving his life.
When he suffered an anaphylactic reaction to kiwifruit after acquiring new allergies from his allogeneic stem cell transplant, a staff member put him on her shoulder and ran with him to the hospital.
“Holy moly, her strength and courage she showed in that situation, that's what Ranui House radiates to me, and that spoke in Helen’s actions,” Komen said.
“She was like Usain Bolt. But that's what they do, they just care for everybody, and the only condition is [they] hope you get better.”
Komen has recently become an ambassador for the Bone Marrow Cancer Trust, and wanted to raise funds through his ice-bath record attempt to give back to the place he called home.
“The support for my family, the home cooked meals, the hand to hold, just the connections I made with patients sharing time at Ranui House, it was incredible.”
Komen remembers how focused, alert and pain free he was for several hours following his first cold shower and credits ice-therapy for his mental and physical recovery.
Now a qualified oxygen advantage breathing instructor, Komen had been training for his record attempt for months, and doesn’t recommend diving into freezing cold water for a lengthy time straight away. Instead, start off with cold showers, he said.
“I do ice bath workshops and we push for five minutes. Ten is intense, so 20 is pushing the limits quite significantly. Hypothermia can set in after 12.”
Outside his cancer treatment, he said it was one of the most challenging things he’s done.
Funds raised will go towards rejuvenating the nine original flats, known as ‘Little Ranui’, which were built 30 years ago.
Donations can be made at ranuihouse.org.nz.