Christel's Walk To End Breast Cancer

A Painful Revisit by Morton's Neuroma Steps on Christel's Goal

2010-10-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

By
Charmaine Coimbra

(This post is dedicated to those I have lost to breast cancer: Mary Hughes, Joanne Erickson and Mary Langan.)

Christel’s walk to end breast cancer recently met with a fellow by the name of Morton--Morton's neuroma. Unfortunately Morton isn’t a person, but a painful condition of the feet.

Christel Chesney

“I had surgery not that long ago to get rid of this so I could make this walk in November,” Christel says. And I recall how ugly and painful her feet looked after that surgery. “They didn’t tell me it could come back, but it did,” she adds.

This summer Christel expanded her training to adding more miles to her beachside walk each session. But when she reached mile eight, a sharp, shooting pain in the ball of the foot that can extend to the toes, made an unwelcome visit. The Mayo Clinic defines Morton’s neuroma as, “A neuroma is a noncancerous (benign) growth of nerve tissue that can develop in various parts of your body. Morton's neuroma occurs in a nerve in your foot, often between your third and fourth toes. The condition involves a thickening of the tissue around one of the nerves leading to your toes.”

With a walking capacity of only eight miles a day, this means Christel will fall short of the 20-mile day for three days—the main participation ingredient for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day this November in San Diego.

Christel did reach her personal goal for funds raised, but the team may fall short of their $10,000 goal this year. One can still donate even though one won’t find Christel walking with the rest. Instead, she has volunteered to work a food booth during the 3-day event.

_______________________

Personally, when the doctor called me after my biopsy and began with, “I’m sorry…..” she didn’t need to finish her sentence. When I recall the single, most miserable days in my life; the day my biopsy results said “malignant,” became the second most awful day of my life.

I stood in my home office, phone receiver in hand, and listened to the doctor describe my condition. With each new sentence my heart beat's intensity exponentially grew. My mouth felt like water had not passed my lips for days. My stomach sickened even with her encouraging words, “Charmaine, this isn’t the end of the world. Your breast cancer is treatable and you will be okay.”

I am okay and now a six-year survivor. If Susan G. Komen’s sister Nancy Goodman Brinker had not pledged to find a way to speed up breast cancer research in 1982, I would have likely lost my breast and would have experienced a lesser chance of survival.

So while the Susan G. Komen For the Cure may be controversial to some, I am grateful for Ms. Goodman-Brinker’s vision and drive that has brought “nearly $1 billion to creating awareness and finding a cure for breast cancer, making it the nation's largest private funding source for breast health and breast cancer."

Will Christel attempt to make another 3-Day event? It will probably depend on that intrusive and rude Morton that stepped on Christel’s 2010 goal--or how effectively her foot’s Morton’s neuroma can be treated.

Be assured, Christel Chesney rarely cries uncle or tosses in the towel without a fight. She’s passionate about her causes. My guess is that this blog will start up again and I’ll chronicle Christel’s next year of training.

Team Robin Is In Training For November 60-Mile Walk

2010-05-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

Charmaine Coimbra

I finally found the opportunity to tag along while Christel Chesney trains for her second Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure™ this November in San Diego.

We met at Skippers Restaurant in Cayucos—“the last real California beach town.” This gave Christel a breakfast break after her warm up walk of about two miles. I knew I could manage three miles without lagging too far behind, but coffee and updating-chat was first on the list.

“I walk three days a week, until May 24. Then I’ll start the official training schedule,” Christel began while tucking away the local newspaper she was reading while waiting for my arrival. “I’m far ahead of where I was last time I trained. I know that I’ll finish this race without a problem.” Her current walks range between six and ten miles each.

Like many stars, Christel has a few habits. She explained as she lifted the jacket resting on the booth seat. “I always wear this jacket when I’m walking.” She pointed out the circular patch that read “John Kolendich Memorial.”

“I met this young man at a golf tournament. A year later he was diagnosed with throat cancer. He was young, with a wife and children. He fought that cancer so bravely. He died much too young. I think about these folks when I walk. Walking 60 miles in three days is nothing compared to what people fighting cancer experience.”

So, Christel and the other members of Team Robin are breaking in another pair of walking shoes for the November 19-21st 60-mile walk. You can follow their fundraising efforts at http://www.teamrobin.org/

Next: Sea Glass and Bathrooms.

Day Three of Christel's Walk--An Emotional Ride

2009-12-09T15:40:00.000-08:00

by
Charmaine Coimbra
After visiting the local ER to treat a bladder infection, common to long-distance marathon walkers, Christel went on to sleep in her pink tent and readied herself for the final twenty miles. The less committed would have marched to the nearest comfortable hotel. However, as Christel notes, “Never, not once, did the word quit ever pass through my noggin.”

But at this point, Christel says, her emotions were raw, her feet were maxing out, and her sense of humor flew south. She says she would have finished the walk as a crawl and “…on my knees if need be.”

Fortunately, a woman, tagged as “Bad Kitty” became Christel’s Lucky Kitty as day three neared its conclusion. (The tag, “Bad Kitty” came from day 1 when the walkers gathered around some foot massagers—and Kitty’s jokes kept the humor colorful.)

“The last two miles were horrific. This walk was kicking my butt. I couldn’t walk in a straight line and I’m not sure if I even knew what I was doing by then. I cried, prayed and tried to ignore a fever that returned. This is when Kitty, and her husband Paul, who showed up to walk the final few miles, held my hands to keep me upright. They feared I’d step off of a curb and hurt myself.”

The threesome walked into the Cleveland Convention Center together. And then Christel started dancing! “My walking buddies were shocked, to say the least, especially Paul and Bad Kitty who had been holding me up the last two miles.”

Emotion got the best of Christel. “There are really no words to describe it other than it changed my life forever. For the first time in my life I felt I contributed something powerful to my sisterhood.”

And she did. Along with her teammate, Nancy, they raised $11,300.

Breast cancer killed my great grandmother, Mary Hughes, at a time when discussion of the disease was taboo. It’s likely that nothing was done until it was too late. This was the fate of so many women.

When the Susan B. Komen fundraising efforts began, breast cancer research and treatment fell out of the stiff bra and into the future health of survivors, like myself.

The $11,300 raised by Christel and Nancy has gone into research. "Every advance in breast cancer has been touched by a Komen grant," said Susan B. Komen spokeswoman Emily Callahan.

In 2007, the organization refocused its research money to concentrate on more focused areas, such as finding biological signs that can help predict cancer before symptoms appear.

For more information about 2010 3-day walks, go to http://www.the3day.org/ In January,

I’ll post more about Christel’s upcoming walk and how you can sponsor her new team—Team Robin with Robin Givens as the team’s honorary member.
<

Christel Visits The ER. Breast Cancer Kills Another.

2009-11-02T12:33:00.000-08:00

by Charmaine Coimbra

Yesterday, on Christel Chesney’s Facebook page, she noted that she completed her every-other-day 6.2 miles training-walk for her 2010 walk to end breast cancer. Soon, she’ll begin 8.2 miles every-other-day with similar walking incremental increases every two months. “The days I don't walk I go to the gym and work my legs and arms for one hour. That's what the plan is thus far. I want to get my speed up to 3.5 miles an hour. But I also like to smell the roses along the way or look for sea glass,” Christel mentioned today.

In training for her second year 60-mile walk, Christel told me how after her flight arrived in Cleveland, Ohio for the 2008 60-mile walk, she felt prepared and ready to go.

About 2500 signed up for the walk ,but 25% were no-shows. There’s a reason and Christel, full of enthusiasm, (and those who know Christel, know that she can get really enthusiastic!) would quickly discover why 25% of once-committed walkers changed their minds.

The 60-mile route started at Thistledown Racetrack. Walkers trekked through downtown Cleveland, pass Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport, up to Lake Erie and then ended at the Cleveland Convention Center.

Day-one, Christel recalls, “I was overwhelmed and very proud, to say the least, but I was surprised to see so many injuries.” I was so excited and encouraged by people in cars honking their horns. People in neighborhoods turning their water sprinklers on, even letting women use their bathrooms. Complete strangers handing us popsicles and ice water.” The adrenalin Christel hoped for got her through her first 20 miles. At day-one’s end, they pitched their pink tents, shared stories and dreamed about conquering day-two.

Bladder infections on a walk like this are not abnormal. Just 3-miles short Christel’s second 20-mile round, she was rushed to the nearest emergency room.

Christel retells her painful experience, “(In the training) they tell you to check your urine for color. Well how in the world can you check your pee in a porta potty? You are looking at a black hole. I drank a lot of water. When I stopped at a McDonalds restroom, my urine was abnormally dark. Along the walk, I stopped at a drug store and bought every over the counter med I could. By noon I was not feeling good at all and prayed I finish my commitment.” At mile 17, organizers pulled her off the walk, and called for transportation to the nearest hospital.

Antibiotics did their job and Christel spent the night in her pink tent again.

Day three: Tears, anger, and pride. Our next Blog.

Many elements obscured the final year of my half-sister’s life, so I was unable to find the cause of her death until three days ago when her death certificate arrived in my mail box.

I ripped open the Arizona postmarked envelope, rapidly unfolded the 8 x 10 document, fully expecting to read pneumonia as the cause of death. My head fell and tears filled my eyes when I read in the tiny box for Primary Cause of Death “Metastatic Breast Cancer.”

Personally, I remain shocked and disturbed.

http://www.imaginis.com/breasthealth/metastatic.asp describes the condition:
The term, metastatic, describes a cancer that has spread to distant organs from the original tumor site. Metastatic breast cancer is the most advanced stage (stage IV) of breast cancer. Cancer cells have spread past the breast and axillary (underarm) lymph nodes to other areas of the body where they continue to grow and multiply. Breast cancer has the potential to spread to almost any region of the body. The most common region breast cancer spreads to is the bone, followed by the lung and liver. Treatment of metastatic breast cancer generally focuses on relieving symptoms and extending a woman’s lifetime.

Clearly, this cancer was a part of my sister’s life for more than a year. She had mentioned some liver problems, but nothing about breast cancer, which was odd, because she knew I was a survivor and she was not the kind of person to withhold truth. My personal suspicion is her possible inability to pay for or neglect of annual mammograms.

For this reason, and because no woman should die of breast cancer for these reasons, I pledge 10% of every sale of a whole house water treatment system (which spouse and I explored and developed after my breast cancer survival). I will track the amount sold on this blog. Please feel free to visit www.riptidealchemy.com. You can also email me at santafemotherblogger@live.com for more information.

Photo: My sister Joanne Bryant

Christel Earns Her Pink Fighter's Gloves in Training

2009-10-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of Christel's Walk To End Breast Cancer
by Charmaine Coimbra

Christel started training in February for her 3-day walk to end breast cancer, scheduled for August 2008. Her first half-mile steps graduated to her "Rocky" status of five-miles. Christel explains, "I felt like Rocky the first time I completed five-miles."

By April 2008, Christel completed her first 10-mile walk. Trouble followed.

"When I hit 10 miles, my left foot started giving me problems. After a walk, the bottom of my foot felt like pins were sticking in it and I could not walk on it at all." Her podiatrist diagnosed a bunion and Morton's neuroma. "I had a small bump on the side of my foot all my life. It was no big deal--until then."

Bunion or not, Christel remained committed and went with cortisone injections to end the pain.

By June's end Christel was on her second pair of New Balance 587s. She continued her training route that started at her hillside Cayucos, CA home, down two-miles to the Cayucos Pier; then south 6.2 miles to Morro Rock. After lunch in Morro Bay, she retraced her route back north to her Cayucos home--logging 16.4 miles every other day for a month just prior to the August walk. "Those extra four miles I figured the adrenaline would get me through each day," Christel says.

Next week--the walk that landed her in the hospital.

Why Christel Walks

2009-09-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

By

Charmaine Coimbra

October 1, 2009
Cayucos, California

If the subject of breast cancer slips into a conversation with Christel Chesney, Christel will ask, "Are you a survivor?" If you answer "yes," Christel's eyes light up. Her Texas twang sweetens her voice and she'll ask, "Well, I'd like to add your name to my shirt."

Christel wears her Susan G. Komen http://ww5.komen.org/ white T-shirt when she walks, walks, walks, to help fight breast cancer--a cancer that will strike about 200,000 women in America this year.

Presently, 11 breast cancer survivor, or in-treatment names are embroidered in pink. That's just one side of the shirt. The other side exhibits 14 black-embroidered names. "These are my loved ones and good friends who cancer killed," Christel explains. After a pause, she adds, "I've got two more names to add in black."

November 10, 2010, Christel will take on her second three-day walk in San Diego. This blog is about the path she treks that has already raised $8000 aimed at fighting breast cancer's onslaught.

I met Christel last October. We signed up to volunteer as Friends of the Elephant Seal docents (Central Coast, California) at the same time.

We took a failed hike--we both wore the wrong shoes and I tired quickly from an arimidex-side effect--which is how my name was added in pink to Christel's walking shirt.

We returned to a shady bench while waiting for the rest of the hikers and Christel shared her enthusiasm.

"I visited my friend, Nancy Grendze, and helped her redo her flower beds before her mother-in-law's 80th birthday party. Nancy told me about this amazing 80-year-old, Maija Grendze. Maija first walked the Susan G. Komen three-day, 20 miles each day, at age 77, then again at ages 78 and 79. At 80 she didn't feel she could do that any longer, so I told Nancy we should continue Maija's legacy.

"Besides, it was a good way to honor my mother-in-law, who died from breast cancer in 1992. I thought, how hard could this be if a 77-year-old could do it."

Christel let out a hearty laugh. "I opened my mouth and inserted my foot! We had a year to get in shape for the walk--so no big deal. Well, it was maybe the hardest thing I've ever done."

Between tears, exhaustion and the exhilaration of accomplishment, Christel survived her 3-day, 20 miles a day, walk. That story follows next.

Photo: Christel Chesney and Nancy Grendze