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Cancer Is a Constant, But So Too Is Running
Runner's World ^ | November 14, 2019 | Sarah Lorge Butler

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 ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Health/Medicine; Miscellaneous; Outdoors; Society; Sports
KEYWORDS: cancer; carolchaoui; marathons; metastases; running; runningmotivation; terminaldiagnoses; terminaldiagnosis
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To: steve86

Thank you. I am sorry for your loss.


21 posted on 11/16/2019 5:33:17 AM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org)
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To: dfwgator

And chemo is designed to wipe those cells out first. The whole sugar/cancer thing is kind of a myth. Sugar does contribute to inflammation, which isn’t good for anyone.

Our oncologist told us that during chemo calories are key.

Everyone else’s mileage may vary.


22 posted on 11/16/2019 5:36:52 AM PST by Vermont Lt
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To: Vermont Lt

I have always thought that the Interstate and Defense Highway System should not be used for the New York Marathon.
It seems obvious.


23 posted on 11/16/2019 8:31:04 AM PST by namvolunteer (Obama says the US is subservient to the UN and the Constitution does not apply. That is treason.9we)
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