Dom's Run Of Good Luck-Mum Saved My Life

His marathon efforts are all thanks to Sue!

- Sebastian Van Der Zwan

Dominic Harvey describes his new book as a “real-life romance”, but it’s not about his wife Jay-Jay. In fact, it’s dedicated to his mother Sue.

Running: A Love Story is the true tale of how The Edge radio star got hooked on marathons. And it was all thanks to his running-mad mum, who the 44-year-old says saved his life by introducing him to the sport – and he’s not being dramatic.

Running did help Dom to lose a massive 30kg. But more crucially, if it wasn’t for his training, doctors may never have found a rare tumour in his stomach that could have caused a fatal stroke or heart attack.

“I’d just started running and if I went really fast or up a hill, I’d be keeling over, sweating, shaking and vomiting on the side of the road,” the shock jock recalls. “This was about 10 years ago, and I just thought it was because I was old and unfit.

“Jay-Jay and Mum were telling me to see a cardiologist, but I was always fine by the time I got home.Then I was running the Auckland Marathon and I started feeling s*** again, just a few kilometres in. Fortunately, I was near an ambulance and thought it was the perfect time to get it checked out. They tested my blood pressure, which was really high, and rushed me to hospital. It was really dramatic.”