When Luke Rogers had a diagnosis of cancer for the second time before turning 35, he was crushed.
After going through his first diagnosis of melanoma while his wife was pregnant, he says the separate diagnosis of kidney cancer came “completely out of the blue”.
The IT manager from Perton, Staffordshire, says he “couldn’t curl up in a ball and let it defeat him”.
So, while physically recovering from surgery in his Russells Hall Hospital bed over Christmas, Luke came up with a plan to help his mental health as well.
He decided 2026 would be the year he set himself challenges – and chose to become a qualified diver and swim with great white sharks in Australia.
“There was just something in me that was just like, ‘right, you just carry on’. It’s a welcome distraction for me. If I put my mind to something, I usually get it done.”