When you embark on the goal of running a marathon, the much
discussed and often feared phenomenon that you train hard to avoid is “Hitting
the Wall”. For any runner that has come face to face with this said “wall”, his
or her experience is all somewhat different but inevitably it is the same. Basically the body has exerted all the energy
stores it has and as a result the body shuts down and must go into survival
mode. Fatigue, dehydration, muscle
weakness, dizziness and mental exhaustion, are all indications that a runner
may be heading directly into the wall.
In many instances this occurs when the race is nearly finished, and the
runner only has a few miles left to run. However, the wall is an unpredictable beast and
getting past it requires everything you’ve got, and then some.
John has completed 33 rounds of radiation treatment, and he
just finished his 3rd cycle of chemotherapy. There was a slight delay with his chemo
treatment because John’s white blood cell count a couple of weeks ago were too
low to continue. His body has been
through the ringer and with the side effects of his treatment and the various
drugs and medications taking their toll, hitting that proverbial “wall” has
been unavoidable. It has been hard to
watch John’s strength whither away as he fights to beat this awful disease. The body can sometimes fail you when you need
it the most, and even if it’s not happening to you, it’s a terrible thing to witness.
I know John is frustrated with his body’s betrayal and it does not seem fair
that his once fit and sturdy frame is now weak and fragile. However, John
continues to fight; he may not be able to eat much these days and in the past week has struggled
to stay upright for long periods of time, but he is fighting through it and
doing his best. Over the last month many
of you have cooked us meals, baked treats, made homemade juice, soup and sauces
or mailed gift cards and money, all in the effort of helping out John and our
family. We have been extremely
touched and overwhelmed by this generosity and display of love and care for us.
Support is a wonderful thing; it is the
brace that holds you up when you cannot stand on your own; John’s support
network is large and strong!
Maintaining a positive outlook has not been easy, but John
knows that the strength to keep looking ahead and moving forward is the only
control he really has if he intends to get past “this wall” and finish. John has never given up in a race, even when
he has felt that “wall” closing in on him, he has kept his head up and
continued to put one foot in front of the other. In 2011 John ran in the Napa Valley Marathon, in the last few miles of the course John “hit the wall”. It was his first experience where his body
was failing him and he didn’t think he had anything left in the tank to finish
the race. He began walking hunched over
trying to maintain focus when out of nowhere a stranger began to yell at him
with great conviction, “Stand up!” “Keep going, you’re almost there!” “You’ve
come this far!” “Keep going!”
Yes! We are almost
there…one more round of chemo and then John can finally cross that finish line
knowing that regardless of the challenges he has faced in this race, he has
never given up!
Goodbye to John's Radiation Mask!
Goodbye to John's Radiation Mask!
