When sprinter Zac Shaw takes his marks on the start line at his third Commonwealth Games this summer, he will be running in memory of his mother. 

The 30-year-old has won four World Championship and two Paralympic medals, as well as racing to silver for Team England at the last Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. 

But last August, his mother Evette passed away from cancer, leaving Shaw with his biggest challenge yet.

He said: “In the lead up to Birmingham in 2022, my mum had been diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma, so she had been really ill, and it was quite an emotionally challenging year leading up to it.

“The first time my mum got cancer, it was me who noticed it. I’m the only one who lives away from the whole family, and I spoke to her every day on the phone, so I noticed something was off with her voice and urged my brothers to check on her.

“It was about six weeks before Birmingham that we found out my mum was cancer-free and she had gone into remission. My first thought was that I was so happy that my mum was going to be able to watch me, and I decided that as soon as I finished my race, I would find her in the crowd."

Shaw fulfilled that dream, storming to a silver medal in his T12 100m final before celebrating with his family in the crowd.

The Grimsby native said: “Off the back of Birmingham, I found it challenging. I put so much emotional energy into those Championships, and really wanted to win gold.

“Honestly, my first reaction was that I had come second, not that I had won a silver. I hadn’t considered what it would look like to not win it.

“In March time last year, it was the same thing with my mum. She picked up the phone and said: ‘Hi, Zac’, and my heart just sank. It was just the slightest shift in tone, but I talked to her for 45 minutes every day, so I can just tell. 

“We found out quite soon after that she had relapsed and that the cancer was so aggressive, the treatment she needed the first time they just couldn’t do again. Her body just couldn’t go through that twice, so we found that she would be put through end-of-life care.” 

Shaw continued to compete, taking part in the Diamond League event in Eugene, USA, but he pulled out of the London event at the end of July to look after his mum.

“There are some things that are just more important than sport,” he said. “I went home not knowing what the situation was like, and when I got back home, she was in a care home and she had aphasia so she couldn’t speak, and I realised quite quickly that I would be home for as long as I needed to be.

“The day after she passed away, I came back to Loughborough and I started training the next day. When I look back, I still don’t understand how I did that.” 

The aim was to take up his spot for British Athletics at the upcoming World Championships in New Delhi, having competed at Kobe in 2024 and Paris in 2023. 

Shaw said: “I thought it would be an amazing story. But then I thought: ‘Who am I trying to impress?’ and I realised it probably wasn’t healthy for me. 

“There have been a few points in my career where I haven’t necessarily done the healthy thing for me, but I have always put myself on the start line.”

Shaw struggled with his vision since the age of nine, but was only diagnosed with the visual impairment, Stargardt Disease, when he was 13.

Watching the London 2012 Paralympics inspired him to begin sprinting, but he was overlooked at both the 2016 and 2020 Paralympic Games before finally earning a silver and bronze medal at Paris in 2024.

He said: “The year before Paris, I was just going through the motions, and by the time it came around, I was so drained and had been so desperate to make the Paralympics.

“I remember standing on the start line thinking what a journey it would have been from where I started. Even when I think back now, I still find it weird to think that I have two Paralympic medals.

“A lot of the time, we struggle with media coverage, even in the Paralympics. The Commonwealth Games is the one chance we get at a level playing field, and I love it."