An Appeal for Kahla Bullemor

It seems ludicrous that such a huge, powerful, strong woman can be struck down so suddenly and completely, but after travelling to India last October on a promotional tour for a supplement company, Kahla Bullemor's health deteriorated alarmingly.


Kahla at the Tampa Pro last year

It is an honour to return to India and share my knowledge on nutrition [and] training, and passion for a sport I truly love, she wrote before she fell ill and returned to her Brisbane base with "symptoms that were consistent with flu". She sought medical help but it took over a month to confirm the diagnosis - Lyme disease.



Treatments available in her native Australia have not been entirely successful, and as she has been unable to work, she has no means by which to pay her five-figure mediacal bills. She is "in tremendous pain every day", even struggling to get out of bed. Consequently, Kahla has looked overseas for alternative, experimental treatments available, finding one in Germany that could restore her quality of life.

Unsurprisingly though, it is prohibitively expensive.



Friends of hers have set up this GoFundMe page to raise money for the treatment (and the cost of Kahla's trip to Germany). The page has been shared all over, including on female muscle fan forums, where, disappointingly, its validity was called into question.



All those "this is definitely a scam" tosspots had to do was look at Kahla's Instagram, where, on February 22nd, and despite very much preferring to "keep a very private life", she thanked her friends and all those who had donated and sent messages of love and support. The only way I can thank you, she wrote, is promise to battle this til the end and come through the other side a better person, athlete, and friend.


Kahla with friend Stacey Howard, who set up the appeal with her husband

Let's Help Get Kahla to Germany

MUSCLE! @Tampa Pro 2017

At the beginning of the month, the Tampa Pro provided the best Female Bodybuilding contest of the year prior to the Rising Phoenix. 17 women competed - the biggest line-up of the year, and - in my opinion anyway - by far the best in terms of quality. Sheila Bleck was crowned champion for the third time since 2014, with Britain's best Lisa Cross resplendent in her best ever shape runner-up for the second year in a row.



While on holiday, ol' Swell here has to admit to having spent a little more time than usual at the local hypermarket with its free wi-fi on the day after the show, drooling over the women, and Lisa in particular. The rest of the weekend was even spicier than normal for Mrs Swell. I'm sure that Lisa would approve of her effect.




This is the second year that Lisa has been under the guidance of Alina Popa, and the results are clear for all to see. One fan rocked up at the pre-show meet and greet with his video camera and found Lisa with Angela Rayburn. "Are you the famous Lisa Cross?" he asks. Poor Angela doesn't get a lot of screen time, Lisa revels in the attention. I'm frankly quite surprised how well our roving reporter handles it when she pouts and hits a double bicep. My voice would have gone up at least an octave.



Any other show this year and Lisa would have been facing the issue of how to get the big sword back through UK customs, and a lot of the forum chatter I've seen since the event has been about how she was "robbed" here. I'm not so sure. Sheila Bleck is one hard woman who is hard to beat in Tampa, where she's competed four times since 2012 (when she was runner-up to Sarah Hayes), winning on the last three occasions.



Her perfect proportions and flawless conditioning once again proved to be more than enough for the Tampa judges, and, as always, Sheila had the best evening routine.



Outside of the top two, it was a memorable pro debut for 3rd place Pauline Nelson (last seen on FMS winning that pro card in July), and in 4th Virginia Sanchez finally brought the size and conditioning from her prep and hotel room shots to the stage.




6th place Janeen Lankowski had her best day as a pro since she was 3rd (behind Sarah and Sheila) here in 2012, and Alicia Alfaro (aka Alfaro-Mesa), at her seventh attempt and her fifth in Tampa, finally cracked the top 10 and was awarded 7th.



Outside the top 10, Australia's Kahla Bullemor returned after a three-year break to provide female muscle lovers all over the globe with something to swoon over. I almost didn't recognise her to be honest - I remembered her shredded physique from 2014, but had never thought she could be as stunningly beautiful as she looked here.



Perhaps the fact that she was somewhat less shredded this time (although her legs still looked pretty damn peeled) allowed her natural gorgeousness to shine through, perhaps she's just one of those women who gets more beautiful with age. Whatever the reason, the fan search for candid pics of Kahla at the show is on, although judging by the lack of images on her Instagram that actually feature herself, that search may not prove to be fruitful. Let's hope it won't be another three years till we see her again.



Check out more clips from the show on fbbspy, and contest galleries - NPC News Online and FTVideo are my personal go-tos, though the former doesn't have anything from the evening show, it does have an extensive check-in gallery to wade through, and though the latter does have some evening stuff, it's mainly just from the awards.



More from Tampa tomorrow.

Enjoy!

While the Slave's Away: Day 5

NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT

So, you want me backstage in the pump room?

That's correct. Get in real close.

Er... Sure. I can do that.

Wait! Take some of these before you go in.

What? What are they?

They'll stop you shaking, kid.



If I'm not mistaken, this lucky fella is getting in close on the incredible Kahla Bullemor, and this was the backstage at the Tampa Pro last year. There's some terrific footage of Kahla on stage here (comparisons) and here (posedown and awards).

Enjoy!