Help Natalie raise money

The last time I ran the Falmouth Road Race was August 2019. It was the last road race I ran and I was feeling defeated. My whole family was a good distance ahead of me and I couldn't keep up. I was 24 at the time. Young, healthy, athletic and I kept telling myself I didn't have the stamina anymore…

 I started to feel my symptoms even more in  the spring of 2021 and eventually found myself  at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital being told "you have cancer". 

When I first googled “swollen lymph nodes for a couple months” the first thing that came up was cancer, but I so badly wanted it to be something else that I didn’t take anything seriously until my symptoms were becoming worse (hello uncomfortable pressure in my chest and upper back, night sweats and weight loss).The day after my last day of quarantining from having covid I went to get it checked out. A CAT scan and some blood work was enough and that day I got scheduled for surgery, two days later. A week went by of me praying it was just an infection to find out I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma stage IVB. It had been a roller coaster ride of emotions.

It’s one that doesn’t really have an answer as to why or how you can get it and the demographic is young and healthy people. So knowing that and knowing I’m a pretty all around healthy person was very frustrating, but knowing there’s a cure and that I would finish treatment in 6 months was what gave me something to look forward to.

Fast forward May 2022, I am in remission and am running again!! The pressure in my chest had been the cancer developing and made it hard for me to breath, which makes it hard to run..but I am back and am excited for my first race just three days after my 1 year anniversary of being officially CANCER FREE and better yet running and fundraising for the American Cancer Society.

 Cancer affects so many of us, whether it be a family member, a friend or even yourself and I am excited to be a part of this team and fundraise for a great cause!