I’m a breast cancer survivor, but first I was a runner. I grew up in the Detroit area and ran in high school and in college. I moved to Grand Rapids with my husband after college and raised 3 children here. After my diagnoses, I was determined to still be a runner after cancer. In February 2006, after my treatments of chemo and radiation, I could hardly run a mile. I thought I would never be able to run a race again. However, that May I ran the 25K Fifth Third River Bank run and finished! This was a huge healing experience for me to know that cancer didn’t take away my love for running and that I was still capable of running. In 2010, for my 5-year anniversary of being cancer free, I ran my first marathon. I’ve run 12 since then in many different cities and states with one being in Iceland. I’ve met so many people along the way and love the running community as a whole! Everyone is so friendly and running a race is the only time where complete strangers are cheering you on! My running group consists of my husband and my running partner who have stuck with me through this cancer journey. My kids are now grown and will say they are not runners, but they are. I talked them into running a race in Iceland too!

When I’m not running, I work full-time as a Human Resources Generalist. I recently went through the mentoring training at Gilda’s Club to mentor newly diagnosed breast cancer patients who are on their own journey. Gilda’s Club helped me out quite a bit with support groups as well as the support groups for my kids, who were quite young at the time. I’m forever grateful to Gilda’s Club.

Happy Running!