Meet my Heros!

I am training for Ironman with TNT for 3 very special people. The following are a little bit about each of them. 

Tony Peyton

I have been given the honor to train in honor of my friend Julie's dad who lost his battle to cancer 1 year ago this May. He was a wonderful man, and I am proud to train in honor of Tony. Tony was diagnosed in January of 2008 with mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer. His doctors here in Louisville gave him 3 months to live. An expiration date was not what he wanted so he fought for a better answer. He found it in Dr. Sugarbaker at Brigham women's hospital in Boston, MA. He was getting to be well known for a radical procedure to treat Tony’s specific cancer. After all was said and done, they removed most of what the cancer infected, which included his entire right lung, 1/2 of his diaphragm, 2 ribs and the lining from the bottom of his heart and they did a chemo wash while he was in surgery. He recovered well and after a few weeks they let him go home. He would fly back and forth every 3 months for labs and PET scans. Everything was great until a year later when the cancer had come back in his adrenal glands. Treatment was chemo every couple weeks. Tony took it like a champ entertaining all the oncology nurses! But after several months, chemo had to be stopped due to the damage on his already weakened kidneys. He had suffered from diabetes for years. For a couple years it was a healthy, joyful time. Then all of a sudden, Tony started feeling bad. He was having back pains and trouble walking. He went to the doctor and MRI after MRI showed nothing. He knew something was wrong but no one not even his family believed it. There was no proof. After trying to maintain care in my home, we had to rely on outside care. Tony entered the Masonic home in April of 2012. Therapist from all disciplines worked with him. He was losing feeling and sensation in his legs. But he pushed on through therapy. He would go to the hospital and back to the Masonic home. Finally, the nurse practitioner ordered a specific MRI. Part of the cancer crept back to his spine and formed a tumor. It was inoperable. And the thinking was shifted from treatable therapy for his legs to we need to start thinking about what if. That was on a Thursday. On Saturday the MD said we may just have a few days to a few weeks. Tony passed away at 10pm that evening.

The battle against cancer is an unimaginable fight. One that words can't even begin to describe for those that fight it, and for their family members that experience that fight while standing strong by their side. Hopefully one day noone will have to fight, suffer, adnd then fight some more. Hopefully the word cancer will one day be a memory that is no more. That is why I train. That is why I raise money. For it to be a memory. 

 

Ava Lucille

I want to introduce one of the bravest little girls or for that matter person I've ever met! Her name is Ava Lucille.  Ava was diagnosed at age 3 in May of 2011 w/Wilms tumor(Nephroblastoma) a form of kidney cancer. The disease occurs in about 1 out of 200,000 to 250,000 children. It usually strikes when a child is about 3 years old. After undergoing aggressive surgery in which she lost her left kidney and 21 weeks of chemotherapy she immediately relapsed with metastatic lesions to her lungs. In November of 2011 she had a section of her lung removed and then proceeded to go through the most aggressive 7 month, round the clock impatient chemotherapy. Can you imagine when you're supposed to be playing, and enjoying being a child, undergoing chemo? Thankfully Ava never stopped fighting and she has now been cancer free for 8 months!!! Ava's mom, Allison, is a dear longtime friend of mine. She is a photographer, and wanted to document Ava's experience. She had a friend document the struggle via a blog that you can visit here http://avalucille.tumblr.com/ Ava is a gift, and I am honored to be training for her, and fundraising to help beat cancer! This is why I train, to help more little girls and boys be able to say they are cancer free!!!!

Barbara "Granny" Bishop

  I was extremely close to my Granny.  I spent a lot of time with her in Mt. Washington as I was growing up. I have her to thank for my complexion. :)  I loved coming to stay with her for a week or several days at a time. She painted me in Calamine lotion when I had the chicken pox. My mom had to go to a teacheing conference in Louisville, so I stayed with Granny in order for her to ensure I didn't scratch my skin off. She made me wear white dress gloves the entire 3 days so as not to leave scars when I scratched. She's part of my wanting to pursue a career in nursing. I use to go with her to people's houses. She would check on them and help them when they were sick. She had a huge heart, and wanted to help everyone she met even though she didn't have much herself.  She use to tell me we were related to Pocahontas, and I was fascinated. People would call me that from time to time growing up, and I always pretended to be her when I was daydreaming.  Granny was diagnosed with Lung Cancer at age 55. She smoked for years and years. She had a lobe of one of her lungs removed, and we thought she’d beat Cancer. Unfortunately, the cancer spread to her brain 5 years later, and it was too much for her to fight. She was diagnosed in June of 1992 with metastatic brain cancer. She fought hard for 6 months, but she passed 3 days before my 9^th birthday, and was buried on my 9^th birthday. I think that was her way to tell me that we'd always be connected. :) Raising money in her honor, is how I keep her heart and spirit alive. 

 

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This week was another recovery week. 53 miles total with 5:30 minutes of training time. 

Running=1 hour 24min---8 miles.

 Biking =  2 hours 27 min -----43 miles 

Swimming = 1 hour 40 minutes ---2 miles. 

My run total should have been 14 miles, but 4 miles into my long run Saturday my left foot started hurting. It felt like someone was stabbing me in the lateral aspect just in front of the ankle. I think it's tendonitis. I'll be making a trip to Dr. Bee of Occupational Kinetics this week in hopes that he can work it out with Active Release Therapy (ART). It did wonders for a strain I had before the Chicago Marathon. For now, I'll be replacing all of my runs this week with bikes and swims, in hopes that it just needs some time to recover. Thankfully, it only hurts when walking or running :)  Oh I also swam my first 1650 yards straight!