I wouldn’t have discovered my love for running if it wasn’t for my mom. She has run four marathons, eight plus half marathons, two sprint-triathlons, six plus 10-milers, 20 plus 5ks, you name it. She was supportive and encouraging in every way and only wanted the best for me. There was a time I never ran more than a mile and then decided to run five with my mom’s running group. I was no older than twelve.
In high school, I decided to run cross country to stay in shape because running was all I knew besides taekwondo. I grew up with my mom running, and it always inspired me to work hard. That was when I found out how much running really meant to me. I started my freshman year without any training and ended the season with a 25-minute 5k personal record. I ran track in the spring to stay fit and work on speed for cross country. I trained all summer before my sophomore year so I could improve more for the season. I slimmed my time down to a 20:48 at the state meet, nearly costing my team the one point that could’ve put us at first place. I broke my PR again the next year with a 20:35.
All of this was because of my mom and dad’s attendance at each of my meets, being my own personal cheerleaders. My mom was there to comfort me when I cried at the state meet and when I blamed myself for not running one second faster for that one point. She volunteered to be an assistant coach for my cross country and track teams my senior year, and she continued to be my cheerleader when I left for college and ran at meets that were sometimes 5-6 hours away from home.
She had been coming with me to morning practice in the summer, and we were even planning to go to New York as a trip. It was in June of 2017 that changed everything. After having my annual visit to the gynecologist, my mom realized that she hadn’t done a self exam or had a mammogram in over a year. When she checked herself, she noticed when she lifted her arms above her head that her breast changed shape and had a dimpling. She went in for an appointment when they found a lump, and later after tests and a biopsy, got the results; she had stage two breast cancer. It spread from her breast to her lymph nodes. Fortunately, it hadn’t spread anywhere else. I was there when she got the call, and she was so calm that I almost thought that the test came back negative. I had a feeling though that wasn’t the case. She made the announcement, and I broke down in tears. I wasn’t sure how progressive or advanced it was or if treatment was enough. My mom assured me that she would be taken care of. I should’ve been the one comforting her.
With more tests, we found out that the cancer was feeding on hormones and wasn’t linked to any genetics that were passed down. We were certain it had to do with the breast cancer history in our family, and the doctors said it probably came back negative because the genes that could have caused the cancer may be undiscovered. After treatment and surgery, my mom would have to take hormone blockers to prevent future cancer that would put her into menopause. I learned through all of these tests and appointments that each breast cancer patient has a unique treatment plan that will help them on the road to recovery.
When all of this went down, my mom had to be more careful with running and training. She had surgery to have a port put in for chemotherapy. With this surgery and open access to her blood line, she wasn’t allowed to swim like she had been doing because she was vulnerable to infections. The chemotherapy would also affect her white blood cells, and sometimes her red blood cells meaning she couldn’t run as often and was tired most of the time. She would run as far as she could for as long as she could. She would run/walk for three miles during treatment to try and keep some of the endurance she had when her white blood cell count was normal. With chemotherapy every other week, she usually needed the weekend and sometimes the week to recover from the nausea or exhaustion. The medicine prescribed to her would always solve one problem, but give her another with its symptoms. Everything seemed like a battle. The doctors said to continue what she was doing like before treatment to regularize her routine, but she still had to take into account that she had to refrain from raw food and public places since she was at high risk for infection and getting sick.
Nevertheless, she was the most positive one in the house. She got out when she could, meaning when her white blood cell count was decent and she wasn’t nauseous. She went out for walks and sometimes runs. She even helped me move into my dorm when it was time for me to go back to school. It was hard to leave her when I went to all of her treatments and tried to support her like she supported me. When she finally finished chemotherapy, she would come up to my meets and cheer me on. I made sure to come back home when she had her surgery so I would be there to comfort her. After the surgeons tested the lymph nodes they removed, they confirmed with the tests that cancer had not spread and was only in the one node . All my mom had left to do was radiation, Monday to Friday for six weeks. She was finally done in January of 2018.
Since then, my mom has continued coaching cross country and track and has been running to catch up with her fitness. During track, she would run some of the workouts with the sprint groups. With the season being over, she’s been running between a mile and a mile and a half to be consistent. She walks sometimes on her runs and wants to push herself into running two miles without walking. Her season goal is to run five miles without walking before she starts coaching the cross country team.
Having running goals has kept my mom in the right frame of mind to move forward. Every goal accomplishment has given her an optimistic perspective and motivates her to reach her bigger goals to feel like a whole person again even though her body will never be the same with the remnants of surviving cancer. Her running makes her feel like the person she was before with more determination than before being diagnosed with cancer so that she can feel that cancer hasn’t won over her life. Many people survive cancer, but it’s how you survive it with a positive attitude that keeps you motivated and your mind in check. Being a coach, running with the kids has helped her stay motivated even though she can’t keep up with them. They have been her cheerleaders to get back to the old grind.
Through this long journey, I didn’t think my mom could inspire me more than she already does. I have always looked up to her and this battle inspired me more to do the best I can with any struggle that comes my way. I wanted to share this inspiration in hopes that you’ll realize no excuse is reasonable enough to give up on your dreams or goals. Push through and persist, and you will be successful.
