This Race She’s Run for Years Ended Up Saving Her Life

Runner's World ^ | February 4, 2019 | McGee Nall

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

“I don’t like that full feeling when I’m running, so I don’t drink that much.”

For Judy Williams, a 56-year-old single mom from Riverview, Florida, this statement doesn’t hold true anymore, at least not after a life altering hospital visit in 2015 after she ran the Gasparilla Distance Classic.

Williams has been racing in the Classic since 1989, and she loves doing all four challenges: the 5K, 8K, 15K, and half marathon over the course of two days. She even ran while pregnant with her two daughters, Kelly, 19, and Abby, 18. The Classic is the race Williams looks forward to running every year.

But in 2015, something unexpected happened. She raced the four challenges that year but felt dehydrated and off afterward. That weekend, she started throwing up and didn’t stop for about 12 hours.

Unsure of what to do, she went to the hospital where they gave her an IV and then sent her home. When she continued vomiting, Williams returned to the hospital and received a second IV. The doctors took a CT scan of her abdomen and found what no woman ever wants to hear: ovarian cancer.

“My two daughters were in the emergency room, and they must have been 13 and 14 [years old],” Williams said. “[The doctor] said, ‘You’ve got a cyst,’ right in front of my daughters.”

While the stage 2 diagnosis was brutal, Williams was grateful for the early catch. Ovarian cancer is not usually diagnosed until much later down the road—sometimes when it’s too late.

[BTerclinger]

Inspiring story, thanks!