Britain's toughest powerlifter cheated death three times and she is still pumping iron at the age of 76

Britain's toughest gran cheated death three times to become a champion powerlifter and is still pumping iron at the age of 76. Pat Reeves has surviving a high-speed car crash and two terminal cancer diagnoses. She took up the sport in 1982, when she was aged 36 after receiving her first terminal diagnosis due to a brain tumour. The grandmother-of-two swapped to a plant-based diet and began running marathons and bodybuilding in the hope it would stop her slow-growing tumour. She was encouraged by her bodybuilding coach to try powerlifting and fell in love with it - quickly smashing records and securing titles at competitions she entered. For 10 years she travelled the world competing in national and global events - deadlifting 135kg at a bodyweight of 42kg in her heyday. But at 48, she was devastated by another terminal cancer diagnosis - this time she was told she had osteosarcoma - a type of bone cancer in December 1993. Pat refused to let it defeat her and continued with her healthy and active lifestyle in a bid to shrink the 14 tumours and she was declared cancer free mid 2016. In September 2018 she was involved in a high-speed crash that killed her driver and the driver of the other vehicle on Germany’s autobahn. The accident left Pat with crushed lungs and led to pulmonary fibrosis - a lung disease that occurs when lung tissue become damaged and scarred - and she was told she only had three months to live in June 2019. But refusing to let it hold her back, Pat is still pumping iron and has just lifted an amazing 60.5kg in March 2022. It was a new BDFPA and WDFPF record for her age and weight category - and has no plans of stopping. Pat, a nutritionist from Kingswinford, West Midlands, said: “As soon as I got sick it sparked a competitive side of me and I fell in love with powerlifting.