Inverness karate black belt (14) fighting cancer returns to compete in wheelchair
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An inspirational teenage black belt in karate has been determined not to give up his sport despite battling against cancer.
Vilis Forstmanis (14), a member of Karate Alba Federation (KAF) in Inverness, has spent most of the last year in hospital after being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and at one stage had to be put in an induced coma.
Although the chemotherapy treatment – which he is still continuing to receive – has affected the use of his legs, the resolute youngster is determined to carry on with his beloved sport.
In two weeks, he expects to compete in his wheelchair in the Scottish Elite Championships in Ravenscraig before taking part in the Para Wheelchair Karate competition at the Scottish International Gran Prix in Ravenscraig in November.
He is also championing his karate club in a competition to win up to £5000 funding from MFR's Cash For Kids.
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Latvian-born Vilis, a pupil at Inverness Royal Academy, lives in the Highlands with his parents, Girts Forstmanis and Liana Liepina-Forstmane, and sister, Enija.
He started training at Merkinch Karate Club, run by Sensei Dolina Ross, about seven years ago and went on to win his black belt.
But about a year ago he started to experience sore legs and headaches while training for the Karate Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Following tests, he was diagnosed with his cancer and immediately admitted to the Royal Aberdeen Hospital for Sick Children.
The past year has brought huge challenges for Vilis and his family.
On one occasion, his heart stopped and a medical team took over five minutes to resuscitate him while his parents shouted prayers over him.
He was flown by emergency helicopter to a specialist unit in Edinburgh where he remained in a coma for a week.
Vilis talks about how the love of karate and his family and friends have been instrumental in getting him on the road to recovery in a short video.
"Luckily, I have very good friends," he says. "I have my karate family. I have my family. A lot of people were there to support me. I am very grateful to everyone."
Even while he was in his hospital bed, he would join the karate class via a video call.
"Karate kept me going," he says. "I wanted to get back to it."
But getting back to the sport was not always easy as he could not walk after the chemotherapy and had to be carried to the bathroom by his mum.
"If I tried to walk, it felt my feet were raw," explains Vilis who was determined not to let the pain take over.
His mum said the diagnosis which had come as shock.
"We cannot understand the reason why it happened," she said.
"He had been well and looked after himself and trained hard. He is into karate and cycled to school was always in good physical condition."
She also reflected on the challenges of the past year.
"It was a really hard time," she said. "But Dolina and the karate club are our friends.
"All the time, they supported us. All the time they supported Vilis."
Ms Ross recalled Vilis when he first joined the club.
"He always trained hard, very engaged in my class from the outset and stood out as an exceptional student with good attention to detail," she said.
While he was in hospital, she took along gifts from the other students along with silly wigs and woolly hats to wear when his hair fell out.
She said Vilis had been overcome with everyone's kindness.
She said when she asked him to help with coaching via a video link, she was surprised he had such a good eye for excellence and able to communicate at a high level.
She said he had a strong spirit.
"I cannot explain in words just how proud I feel of Vilis, a very special and much loved student," she said.
