Posted on 11/15/2019 8:04:07 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
In her decade of living and running with cancer, last year was Carol Chaoui’s toughest yet. But in 2019, she’s mounted a remarkable comeback.
She has stage 4 breast cancer and stage 4 thyroid cancer, but Chaoui, now 56, finished the New York City Marathon on November 3 in 5:39:34—faster than 13-minute pace—even though she has tumors all over her body, including in her brain. And she mostly walked for the last 19 miles after stumbling several times in the early going.
“I’m a pretty fast walker,” she quipped after the race.
Chaoui was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009. While undergoing surgery and chemotherapy, her doctors encouraged her to keep running through treatments. And she did, trying to find a race to run before every round of chemo. For a woman who has a marathon best of 3:22, running was a natural part of her therapy and it gave her, her husband, and their four worried children a sense of hope and normalcy.
In 2014, she learned she had thyroid cancer and went through surgery and radioactive iodine treatment. In 2015, the breast cancer returned—and spread to her skull, spine, hip, and lymph nodes.
For the next two years, even though her diagnosis was terminal, Chaoui responded well to treatment and continued to run as much as she could. She also became a fundraising powerhouse, running the Boston Marathon, starting a Thanksgiving road race in her hometown of Wellesley, Massachusetts, and hosting a fashion show.
By the end of this year, she expects her fundraising for metastatic cancer research from those three efforts to have topped $600,000.
In 2018, however, the cancer started to spread again, and the chemotherapies and other regimens she was on began to lose their effectiveness.
(Excerpt) Read more at runnersworld.com ...
Chemo sucks the life out of tumors AND the body. Cancer just plain sucks. No two ways about it. I wish her well.
Cancer thrives on sugar and carbs.
And I think chemo can end up creating survival of the fittest cancer cells which may be what happens when people say the cancer “came back with a vengeance”.
A horrible disease. I suspect some day our current treatment consisting of poisoning the whole body will be seen as barbaric.
That is incredible.
I have barely run since diagnosis; there is just too much pain from surgery and radiation. And I am not terminal.
Prayers for your full recovery.
Stay strong. 9 years from diagnosis here. So far, so good.
Yes, this woman is amazing. She’s living her life to the fullest.
God bless this lady. I have stage four cancer and can barely walk.
Thats exactly what occurs because no treatment gets every single camcer cell. Tougher ones survive and it comes back faster and harder. Lost my pet to this. No chemo, but surgeries.
Thank you.
I had a cat who had surgery four times for cancer. He ended up dying unexpectedly from heart failure, after five years cancer-free.
Fellow runner here and praying you will get back out there soon.
The story makes me wonder if her second cancer was a consequence of treatment for the first, but who knows.
I never really ran, like people do. Did two weeks of cross country in highschool and that was enough. I’m am glad you are not terminal. And prayers for continued wellness and strength on your journey. I just started treatment as well and it’s going well according to the docs but it sucks.
God bless.
Thank you. I am just starting physical therapy and hope it will help me get back out there. I just bought new running shoes and need to break them in.
Best wishes and prayers for your full recovery and remission or cure. Expect first prayer in about 30 minutes!
Having lost my wife last year I am more than willing to pray for the survivors.
Reading about people like this....makes me feel like a coward. I cannot find it in myself to be able to relate to the kind of determination and strength of will to fight against such odds. I think that I would crumble under a fraction of that kind of battle.
95% of everything on the internet, and that people tell you, about nutrition is bullsh!t. I believe your statement is provably correct. Refined sugar is the devil, in a lot of ways.
“Cancer thrives on sugar and carbs.”
Which has probably been known for decades...and I only find it out a year ago, just after my beloved cousin dies of it. But what the heck, the medical community made a killing off of her!
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