From Cancer to Olympic Gold with Max Parrot

Being the top of your class in your profession is something many of us aspire to achieve, but only few are ever successful. Many will applaud your success, many more will be unaware of the journey it took to get there. A journey that is often filled with trials and tribulations the likes of which only handful of us can weather. The Max Parrot story fits such a journey. From finishing his last round of chemotherapy to winning Olympic Gold, Max is a champion through and through.

Who Is Max Parrot?

It was evident very quickly that the snowboarder is as complex a human being as the rest of us are. “Snowboarding is my passion, it’s what everyone knows I’m doing, but there’s a lot more than just Max the snowboarder”. A self-described introvert, he’s an avid fan of playing tennis, golfing, surfing and mountain biking. Beyond the athletic side, he’s also an entrepreneur and currently co-owns two local restaurants. He’s also into real estate and sets aside a housing project for himself every year.

It changed my life as a person, as an athlete. I used to take life for granted.
Max Parrot on being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

2019

Every journey has a series of events that defines the whole thing. For Max, it was being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2019. “I was always living in the future and the anxiety of getting there. Going through cancer, I started focusing on living every day appreciating the little things”.

High performance athletes carry with them an enormous amount of confidence and mental strength. Max described his battle with cancer as the hardest thing he’s had to deal with but maintains that he wasn’t going to let the cancer win. “I left cancer absolutely no chance of winning against me and it helped me stay positive”. With that being said, Max expressed that in his darkest moments, he wasn’t so positive, “at some point I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I almost quit it was so hard, I was drained”. The chemotherapy took a toll on his body as he lost his cardio endurance, his strength slipped away, and he no longer felt physically like himself.

Robot Mode

Towards the end of his chemotherapy sessions, Max refers to himself as entering a different mental state, “I didn’t want to go to the hospital, but I just did it, I didn’t think about it, I call it robot mode”. Max even remarked that his worst day was his last day of chemotherapy. As opposed to coming home with relief, he found himself battling depression because of the toll it took on his body and mind. It took about a month before Max started to feel like himself again and in an amazing feat of strength, he won the X Games only two months later. “I like big challenges and it makes me work harder. To have such a big goal in such a short time, I gave myself a huge challenge. I was a lion in a cage wanting to break out”.

Beijing Olympics

Max is accustomed by now to being at the top of his sport. He’s achieved enormous success in major tournaments and even obtained a silver medal at a previous Olympics. But Gold always seemed just outside his grasp. After overcoming cancer and winning the X Games, his confidence was as high as it has ever been and in Beijing, he finally struck gold. “It sounds unreachable even when you are young. Even though this was my third Olympics, it felt unreachable. It still feels unreal, it will sink in a couple of months from now”.

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When asked what that moment felt like, Max notes “I didn’t even realize it. It’s a mixed feeling of being super happy, really excited with my performance and getting compensated for your efforts, you dream about that moment for a long time”.

What’s Next

Max was recently featured as an ambassador for RW&CO.’s ‘Always on the Rise’ campaign that aims to inspire fellow Canadians to rise up to every occasion. “I was really happy when they asked me to be their ambassador. I’m not a model so it was a great experience to team up with them”. Next on the horizon, and possibly his greatest challenge, is an incoming baby boy. “I need a break from training, definitely going to keep snowboarding, but going to spend a lot more time at home and spend time with my girlfriend for the last parts of the pregnancy”. Expect more from Max as he says it won’t be very long before he’s back trying to add to his already impressive resume.

Feature image credit AP