Second chances.

"I didn't know!!!" 

"What's your story? Or do you not want to talk about it?" 

"Why are you such a fitness freak?" 

Since my 2 year survivor anniversary is coming up (March 27th) I'm writing a refresher story. Because there are people who do not know I am a cancer survivor. There are people who know, but do not know the story. There are people who know, but think I don't want to talk about it (If I post survivor stuffs on Facebook/Instagram for the world to see, you can ask me about it ;-) ). 

Ready? Here we go: I graduated high school in 2007. I ran maybe 2 miles 2-3 times a week and that was all I did working out wise back then. In 2008 my dad starting running more and eating right to lose weight. During that time tried to up my running game and I worked up to running 5 miles 2-3 times a week. We also picked up cycling and would ride 15ish miles on occasion. 

I started YWAM (missionary school) right after high school then started Bible college for 4 years after that. Until 2011, I was here, there, and everywhere for missions and didn't always have the opportunity to run. So my fitness level went up and down. 

Then in June that year I left for a 5 month trip to Honduras and Colombia. I ended up getting sick right before I left. And I stayed sick with different lung infections the whole time. There were times I couldn't get out of bed I was so worn out. There were many days I had to rely on meds and an inhaler to have the lung capacity to just walk around. The only "tests" I had when I went to clinics down there were x-rays and them listening to my lungs because I refused blood work since I don't do well with needles. So they didn't see the cancer and thought it was just an infection. With the medicine they gave me I would be better for a few days but since the cancer wasn't treated I would go back to not being able to get out of bed. 

I came home from that trip a month early in November, completely worn out and desperately wanting to not be sick anymore. I went to the doctor here in the states not expecting anything but more medicine that wouldn't help. I was wrong. 

"Your blood work is a mess and there are masses in between your lungs. We think it's Lymphoma." 

To which I thought, "What's Lymphoma?" And, "Is that bad?" 

Since I had been sick for months and didn't know what I had just been told at first, the fact that I had just been diagnosed with cancer sunk in slowly. By early December I was formally diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which is a type of blood cancer, and had enlarged lymph nodes in my neck and chest. 

I started 6 months of chemo treatments the very end of December. I had 4 chemo drugs plus a plethora of other medicines to go along with them. I did my treatments in one day, for 4-5 hours, every 2 weeks. I would feel like crap day of, start to feel better over the next 3 days, then be good enough to go back to work til the next treatment day. Though my energy level was still not normal for a 22 year old, chemo was managable. I even ended up keeping almost all of my hair. I was, however, eyebrow-less. I got pretty good at penciling them on. 

In March, half way through chemo, scans showed that the cancer was no longer there. Which meant I was technically a survivor, but I had to finish out my treatments to make sure any microscopic cancer cells that wouldn't have showed up were gone and to decrease my chances of the cancer coming back. I finished my chemo treatments in June of 2012. There were many tears of joy as they unhooked my IV for the last time! Then the nurses sang, "Hit the road Jack, and don't you come back" as I left. 

Last day.

With my eating habits that were not what they should have been, plus not being as active, plus medicine that made me gain weight, I had put on 20 pounds more than pre-chemo weight. And my fitness level was pretty much non-existent, I could only run a half mile. Plus life in general was put on hold. Scratch that, life came to a screeching halt. So the task of starting life over again as a survivor was challenging. 

Even though I was cancer free, I was not healthy. And so began my journey to health. I started eating right, running and cycling again, and joined a gym so I could start swimming. I did my first sprint distance triathlon three months after I was done with treatments. That race was the first time I had run 3 miles without stopping since before getting sick. I remember thinking, "Don't stop. Don't stop." the whole time. For those of you who think running comes naturally for me, that was a hard run. Took me 34 mins and I didn't think I'd ever come close to breaking a 30 min 5k again. To show you the progress I've made since then: I can currently run a 23:09 5k. 

First triathlon.

Then I decided I wanted to do something big to celebrate being cancer free for a year. I decided to run my first marathon, 26.2 miles. At the time I was struggling to get to where I could run more than 5 miles. The most I had run before that was a half marathon, 13.1 miles, in 2009. My first long run during that training period was 8 miles, on a treadmill since it was raining. I thought that run would never end. But marathon day came, I ran the marathon in just under 5 hours, and said I would probably never run another marathon as long as I lived (I'm about to run my second. Ha.)

First marathon.

I have continued to try and reach new fitness goals since then to "stick it to the man". I've run from my house to the hospital where I did chemo and back a few times. That's about 18-20 miles depending on which route I take. I have, and will continue to, train for races that are bigger/longer than a marathon like the half ironman I'm training for in June, which will mark 2 years off chemo. And I've recently become a certified trainer through NASM, in the hopes that I can help others with their health. 

I have an online training system set up and I've given out my resume at a few places. So now, I wait for clients.

And wait the 6 days til my 2nd marathon. THREE days til my 2 year anniversary. I used to count down days til I left for a  mission trip. Now I count down til race days for a chance to flex my survivor muscles and have people ask me why I run. "Missions" will never be the same for me. Just like health, missions is a lifestyle.

Long story short: God's grace is enough.