Marie Murray

Marie Murray and me after a wonderful 20-mile run with the HHH team, just weeks before the 2013 Boston Marathon.

A couple weeks ago I was on vacation, getting in my morning run.  I was on lap 28 of 40, trying to run 16 miles on a ship deck in the middle of the ocean.  At one point I found myself completely alone, the sunrise right in front of me and the gentle mist of ocean spray in my face.  The sound of the waves intermeshed with the sound of my feet put me in an almost trance-like state.  My thoughts turned to all the good things that make up my life.  Of course, Marie Murray is one of those things.  For the first time in weeks, when I thought of her I smiled instead of cried.  How she would have loved to run mid-January in a tank top and shorts with the sun beating down on her shoulders.  I tried to put into words my feelings for my dear friend.  Click on the link below and get to know a girl like no other.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865647180/Running-with-cancer.html

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What Is Cancer in simple words

One out of every two men and one out of every three women will be diagnosed with cancer.

But despite those huge numbers most individuals don't know what that really means. At the simplest level, cancer or cancer cells are cells that have lost the ability to follow the normal control that the body exerts on all cells. In our body we have billions and billions of cells and they have different functions. It's a very complicated process under incredibly phenomenal control and if something goes wrong and that control is lost and particular cells escape the normal control mechanisms and they continue to grow and they may spread. That's what we call cancer. Those cells together, we would call that a tumor. Specifically cancer is a malignant tumor and we call it malignant because not only can it invade into adjacent organs, but unfortunately cancer can spread to other tissues and that can be life threatening. Cancer can actually occur anywhere in the body because there are cells everywhere in the body. In women one of the most common cancers of course is breast cancer and men prostate cancer. And in both men and women lung cancer and colon cancer are common cancers. It's important to understand that the cancer that occurs in one individual is very different than the cancer that occurs in another, just like those individuals are different. So a lung tumor in one person will be very different from a lung tumor in another person. Once the diagnosis of cancer is made of course the next obvious question is what do you do. There are several things that are really relevant. The stage of the cancer, which is information about where is the cancer. You say it's a particular kind of cancer.

1.  How much cancer is present?
2.  Has it spread? 
3. Is it in lymphnodes?
4. Has it spread to other organs of the body? 

Cancer treatment actually is very complex and part of the reason is because cancer is this constellation of over two hundred different diseases. They have common characteristics but they're all very different from each other. In addition to that, the cancer itself is not homogeneous. There may be three or four or five or six different slight variations in the cancer cells that are there. People ask why? Why does my cancer not go away? It shrunk by seventy percent. What's wrong with the other thirty percent? Well it's probably a different sub type of that cancer which is going to require a different kind of treatment. There are three primary therapies for cancer. Surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Surgery works by directly removing the tumor. Radiation therapy provides x-rays to kill individual cells and the chemotherapy provides chemicals that can kill those individual cells. But they have side effects. The best therapies that we can produce really are the result of optimizing the amount of tumor that we can kill by any treatment and minimizing the amount of damage that we cause to the normal cells that would be affected by that treatment. At Cancer Treatment Centers of America, we have a very robust integrative oncology program. Integrative oncology is taking those conventional oncology treatments and integrating those with therapies like acupuncture, naturalistic medicine, chiropractic, nutrition. To blend those together and to create the most appropriate treatment plan for that individual patient at that moment in time. Cancer Treatment Centers of America has invested in a model in which all of the effects of cancer and its therapy are aggressively treated and managed. It's not just enough to kill the cancer, if we don't treat the pain, the fatigue, the depression, or the anxiety that comes with a diagnosis of cancer. Receiving a diagnosis of cancer can be a frightening thing. The good news is that today is probably the most exciting time in history in terms of the treatment of cancer. Options that didn't exist a few months ago certainly didn't exist a few years ago, like the ability to genomically profile a tumor, and to take that individualized fingerprint of that cancer may direct us to tailor treatment in very specific ways. We believe that in the future, many more patients with a number of different tumor types will potentially be able to benefit from the advances in precision medicine. There are very hopeful options that are available to us as clinicians to make a difference in patients lives and it's therefore just as important for patients to know that, so they have those hopeful options and they take advantage of them.

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Marie

About 5 years ago I got a Facebook message from my friend Rick asking for advice on behalf of another friend who had just qualified for the Boston Marathon and was making her first trek to run those famous 26.2 miles.  He sent me her name and contact information.  I texted her, messaged her and set up a time to meet her at the Boston marathon expo.  It was there I met Marie Murray.

Our 2015 Epic Relay Team.  Marie is in the center, joyful as always.  We ran for her.  

It was a quick visit.  She and her husband wanted to go on a Duck Tour.  I was in search of pizza at the North End.  We chatted a bit and parted ways.  Little did I know the impact this woman would have on my life.

Isn't that how it goes?  One small moment can change us in lasting ways.  Over the next few years I would run many relay races with Marie.  We were Huntsman Hometown Heroes together.  In fact, it was her cancer story that was the final push I needed to join this special team.  Diagnosed with breast cancer almost ten years ago, she seemed to beat the odds.  She was invincible.  Ever positive and full of joy, it seemed unlikely that life could ever leave her.  But it did.  Last night she passed away and we are all a little emptier.

It's weird, this grieving thing.  I'm both sad, but at peace.  I love this girl and I'm sad she's gone.  I'm sad for her family.  I'm sad for us.  I'm sad for her and all she will miss.  But I'm relieved this burden has been lifted.  Cancer sucks.  It just does.  There's no eloquent way to say it.  It sucks.  It seems strange that the world continues on.  It feels like everything should just stop a moment.  But that doesn't happen.  Life goes on, and if Marie taught me anything, it's to make every moment count.  Cherish those you love.  Nurture your gifts and talents and use them to bring joy to others.  Marie did. And that's why her spirit will continue to live on.

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Huntsman Hometown Hero Time!

The fabulous Marie Murray and I after a 20-mile training run with the 2013 Huntsman Hometown Hero Team

As many of you know, each year I run/bike to raise money for the Huntsman Cancer Institute.  What does my biking and running do for cancer?  Nothing.  Except I'm so grateful for a healthy body.  I show my gratitude by doing what other's can't.  Raising money for cancer research is another great way to give thanks and Huntsman have given me a way to do both.  Like 2015, for the 2016 season I will be biking 100 miles at the Little Red Riding Hood Century with the Miles for Marie team.

Marie Murray has been a Hometown Hero almost as long as they've existed.  She beat the cancer odds once ten years ago and is fighting her way to beat them again now.  I love this girl's spirit and I love this girl!  I'm also raising money for my dad, aunt, and countless other friends who have battled this disease.  Some are with us still, some are not.  But all are remembered.  Help me honor their memory and donate to the Huntsman Cancer Institute.  100% of your money goes to research and they are making incredible strides.  It's an exciting time to be a Huntsman Hometown Hero!

Donate using the link to the right of this page under Huntsman Hometown Hero.

And thank you!

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