By Eunice Quek

Fitness buff Andrew Hallam is raring to run in a competitive road race next month.

The 39-year-old Canadian expatriate will participate in the 5.6km J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, which he won last year with a time of 20 minutes and 25 seconds.

But there is a difference this time. He will be running just six months after being diagnosed with a type of bone cancer and undergoing surgery to remove parts of three ribs.

He says: "Last time, I would just run to win. It's not about that anymore. Running this race is a symbol that things will get back to normal. And it's so much more meaningful for me." It is not the hasty return to exercise it might seem.

Dr Tan Mann Hong, senior consultant in the department of orthopaedic surgery at Singapore General Hospital, says running the race, which focuses more on speed than endurance, is "not unreasonable for Mr Hallam.

Many journals have published studies showing how exercise is beneficial for cancer survivors. Light sport such as ball games, tennis, golf or gym workouts are suitable".

Mr Hallam tells LifeStyle he could have been living with the cancer cells since 2003, when a CT scan done on him during a mandatory check-up for employment in Singapore showed a "cloudy image".

Doctors told him to monitor the situation with annual checks. He did that for the next four years and discovered no development, then skipped the check-up in 2008. Last November, his wife forced him to get screened again and his doctor at Gleneagles Hospital diagnosed him with chondrosarcoma, a cancer of the cartilage.