| At the age of 38 I thought I was in the best shape of my life, but being in great shape didn’t prepare me for the events that began in September of 2007. At that time, I had competed across the Midwest in a few 12 hour adventure races and was training for the Chicago Marathon. One day while I was playing soccer the upper lobe of my right lung collapsed. When it happened I thought I had just pulled a muscle, but by the time I got home I not only felt worse, my kids told me I didn’t look so good. In the emergency room that evening I found out my right lung was collapsed over 75% I was shocked.
I had to have a chest tube to re-inflate my lung and was in the hospital for three weeks. Because of this I also had to withdraw from school. To determine the cause of the collapse, I was tested for cancer and several lung diseases. The tests all came back negative. Since the tests were negative, I was told the collapse was due to my asthma and possibly a congenital bleb. I went home and slowly started to run and train once again.
In January 2008 I experienced my second lung collapse while driving to work. I was sent to the hospital and this time I went through 4 chest tubes. I was told I needed surgery to repair my lung (a thoracotomy/repair and a pleural diesis) and this procedure would fix the bleb on my lung. I made it through surgery and had all of my chest tubes removed and sent home. Twenty four hours later my lung collapsed again. This time my emergency visit did not go as well as in the past. The physician had a few complications and then placed the chest tube in my right middle lobe. I woke up from being sedated a bloody mess with my mom and friend next to me holding my hands. I spent the night in ICU and was taken back to surgery once again to repair and explore what was going on. I had done some research on my own and was suspicious that I might have a condition called catemenial pnuemothorax. I asked for a biopsy but was told this was not necessary and my surgeon refused to do the biopsy. I was disappointed but wasn’t going to let it interfere with my recovery so I found a new group of physicians. I was in the hospital for 4 weeks with a chest tube. My lung would not stay inflated completely so I was sent home with a chest tube for 2 weeks. Once my chest tube was pulled and my physician released me I began training and actively recovering.
As I started this recovery process many people in my life thought I should stop training. They felt that I was endangering my health and perhaps my life by continuing to train and compete in endurance sports. But I love the outdoors, soccer, running, biking, adventure racing, and training and achieving my goals was a part of my life I couldn’t imagine leaving behind. I spoke with my doctors and my friends all of them encouraged me to keep training. I made an agreement with my children that I will not train or race alone. Even though my broken ribs from surgery hadn’t healed, I started training and running. In May of 2008, I completed the Indianapolis Mini Marathon. Through the spring and summer I did a few 5 k races and attended an adventure race camp where I heard Robyn Benincasa talk about Project Athena and thought that this was a great idea and a wonderful way to celebrate going through life’s challenges.
In June of 2009, my lung collapsed again. I was devastated. I remember telling my family and friends “I don’t know how I will get through this again”. This time I wanted to go to the University of Chicago and I wanted to know why my lung kept collapsing. After another 6 hour lung surgery and many tests, I found out that my suspicions and research had finally been confirmed. My lung collapses were due to Catamenial Pneumothraces. This type of lung collapse is caused by endometriosis. The endometrial cells migrate to the lungs causing weak spots which then cause the collapses. This type of endometrial disease is not well known or studied. I have begun a controversial treatment which may or may not control the collapses. One of my goals is to raise awareness of endometrial disease and catamenial pneumothorax.
After my 6 week check up I started swimming, biking, kayaking, and running. In September 2009, 12 weeks after my surgery, I finished my first 30 hour adventure race. This was a huge accomplishment and a personal victory for me. I also have returned to school. I wanted to show my children that mom is okay and despite the challenges that life may hand you, you can meet those challenges and still accomplish your goals and do the things you love I wrote Project Athena and Robyn and told them of my challenges. When Robyn told me about receiving the Rim to Rim to Rim Athenaship I was stunned and at a loss for words. This is a dream come true!! I look forward to seeing in person just how amazing it truly is. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity.
Event: Grand Canyon R2R2R2 |
