This Race She’s Run for Years Ended Up Saving Her Life – runnersworld.com

“I don’t like that full feeling when I’m running, so I don’t drink that much.”

For Judy Williams, a 56-year-old single mom from Riverview, Florida, this statement doesn’t hold true anymore, at least not after a life altering hospital visit in 2015 after she ran the Gasparilla Distance Classic.

Williams has been racing in the Classic since 1989, and she loves doing all four challenges: the 5K, 8K, 15K, and half marathon over the course of two days. She even ran while pregnant with her two daughters, Kelly, 19, and Abby, 18. The Classic is the race Williams looks forward to running every year.

But in 2015, something unexpected happened. She raced the four challenges that year but felt dehydrated and off afterward. That weekend, she started throwing up and didn’t stop for about 12 hours.

Unsure of what to do, she went to the hospital where they gave her an IV and then sent her home. When she continued vomiting, Williams returned to the hospital and received a second IV. The doctors took a CT scan of her abdomen and found what no woman ever wants to hear: ovarian cancer.

“My two daughters were in the emergency room, and they must have been 13 and 14 [years old],” Williams said. “[The doctor] said, ‘You’ve got a cyst,’ right in front of my daughters.”

While the stage 2 diagnosis was brutal, Williams was grateful for the early catch. Ovarian cancer is not usually diagnosed until much later down the road—sometimes when it’s too late.

“My husband had died of a massive heart attack when we were biking about a year and a half prior, and I didn’t really have family [nearby] who could take care of my two girls,” Williams said. “If I had passed on, it would have been terrible. It was a very trying time for everyone.”

Thankfully, within a day or two she had a hysterectomy and was prescribed 18 weeks of chemotherapy. But even during her treatment, Williams fought to keep her body moving. The year she was diagnosed, she participated in a family favorite, the Summer Sunrise Watermelon Series 5K, even though just walking to the starting line was enough of a challenge. As she built up her strength, she gained a new perspective, too.

“I’m not used to running at the back of the pack,” Williams said. “They are the true heroes. They all have stories.”

The cancer hasn’t resurfaced since Williams’s treatment, and the year after her diagnosis, she was able to run the Gasparilla races with her two daughters again. Now, Williams pays more attention to her hydration, drinking plenty of fluids, before, during and after a training run or race.

The doctors told Williams that once she reached five years without the cancer returning, then she would be considered in the clear. As she and her younger daughter, Abby, gear up for the Gasparilla 15K and half marathon on February 23-24, Williams feels another wave of gratitude all over again, just happy for the chance to do what she loves most.

“It’s sweet every year when another Gasparilla comes around,” Williams said, “because it’s another year cancer free.”