Talk Cancer

Question:

Hi- I am 41 years old and was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease when I was 29, stage 2b. I had chemo and radiation for 12 months and have been cancer free ever since. I didn’t do any heavy excercise while I was in treatment: swam and walked mostly, but I was no where near in competitive condition when I began treatment anyway so I bet it will be different for someone in such good shape as you are in. I finally got around to doing the Gulf Coast 1/2 ironman a couple of weekends ago on behalf of Team in Training/Leukemia Society.  I had wanted to do something like this for the past 12 years….the timing happened to work this time. If you end up having to have chemo it will make you really tired the day of and a couple of days after treatment. Radiation makes you feel like you’ve been out in the sun far too long (kind of like the run on the Gulf Coast this year!) Your immune system will be weaker when  some of the good cells being killed off with the cancerous ones from chemotherapy so good nutrition is very important as well as hydrating to flush the drugs out of your system. good luck with your treatment and racing! —Johanna Young

Response:

I seem to have missed the initial post to know the details of what this is about. A family member of mine has won a rowing national championship post Hodgkin’s disease. Slightly less athletically, but not in real couch potato fashion, Jamie Whitham came back from Hodgkin’s to win British Superbike (motorbike) championship and be competitive at world level.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi- I am 41 years old and was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease when I was 29, stage 2b. I had chemo and radiation for 12 months and have been cancer free ever since. I didn’t do any heavy excercise while I was in treatment: swam and walked mostly, but I was no where near in competitive condition when I began treatment anyway so I bet it will be different for someone in such good shape as you are in. I finally got around to doing the Gulf Coast 1/2 ironman a couple of weekends ago on behalf of Team in Training/Leukemia Society.  I had wanted to do something like this for the past 12 years….the timing happened to work this time. If you end up having to have chemo it will make you really tired the day of and a couple of days after treatment. Radiation makes you feel like you’ve been out in the sun far too long (kind of like the run on the Gulf Coast this year!) Your immune system will be weaker when  some of the good cells being killed off with the cancerous ones from chemotherapy so good nutrition is very important as well as hydrating to flush the drugs out of your system. and good luck with your treatment and racing! —Johanna Young

Response: