Adventurer Rod – 'I'm going out fighting'

The gutsy granddad is putting kilometres between him and his cancer diagnosis

- By Kasia Jillings

In December 2020, tanker driver Rod Rutherford was diagnosed with stage four renal clear cell cancer and given just six to nine months to live.

It's been almost two years since then and the 59-year-old continues to defy the odds, including cycling 3800km from Bluff to Cape Reinga.

The epic five-month-long feat was inspired by a dream where Rod saw himself biking the length of Aotearoa spreading positivity.

"In the dream, I had a message to give people: 'Life isn't what you think it is. It's not about the biggest car, the flash house, or the greatest meals. It's actually about the time you have and how you spend it,'" shares Rod.

When several weeks later his brother Arty called out of the blue offering an e-bike, it seemed like a sign to make his dream a reality.

But it came at a precarious time. Rod had just had brain surgery during the lockdown of August 2021 to remove two of his eight tumours and was still undergoing oral chemotherapy treatment for the remaining six.

While it's an unconventional way to spend what could have been his last months, Rod knew he had to try and his wife Karen was immediately supportive.

"Between us, we have six children, and we've always told them to go off and have the adventure," says Cambridge kindergarten teacher Karen, 39. "We had to put our own words into action and I knew he could do it."