Late in April, each year, I count back to the spring when I had my cancer diagnosis. I’m lucky to say that I count back eighteen years now. What a gift! I’m humbled and grateful.

I have weathered some significant health obstacles in the past few years. I have had long periods of time when my usual exercise choices were physically beyond my reach. Luckily, modern medicine had solutions for my problems… again.

Wishing all cancer survivors a happy spring, a mix of inspiration and hope, and the patience to put one foot in front of the other during the difficult times. Sometimes the smallest of steps can really make a difference. I believed that in 2007 when I was in cancer treatment, and I believe it now. Be well.

I’m glad to be the keynote speaker tomorrow at the annual meeting for Kindred Connections. It’s a Vermont-based organizations that connects cancer survivors with cancer patients for informal, friendly peer relationships.

I’ll be speaking to the group about my experiences with cancer treatment and exercise, as well as my book and some of my “take-home” points about exercise. One of my themes: Do Something Every Day. Building a habit of daily exercise is profoundly important.

I often wonder if people think that exercise has to be very precisely programmed. I know that I wondered during chemotherapy if I had enough guidance about what to do or not to do. I was told by my physician to “do what you feel like doing”, with the caveat that he didn’t expect I would feel like doing very much after a while.

I had been a competitive cross-country ski racer, before Cancer, and I was used to running half-marathons, training by running mountain trails, and ski racing 32-mile races in mountainous terrain. After surgery for ovarian cancer and in the midst of arduous chemotherapy, I threw my usual fitness routines and fitness goals out the window. I adjusted everything so that my activity served the purpose of recovering from cancer and building health. Fitness and competition could take a hike; I slowed down.

But I didn’t stop. Instead of running, I walked. Instead of swimming far, I swam less far. I swam more slowly. When I was anemic, my walking including stopping and sitting on stonewalls to rest.  I only water-skied a little. (Smiley face here. Yes, I water-skied a little–slalom (ie, one ski). It was a high-point and I chose to do it on the days when I had the best blood counts–and I had asked the MD for clearance to do it.

My point is that I stayed active, but I didn’t try to keep training as if I wasn’t in the middle of chemo. I adjusted. And I tried to do something outdoors, moving, every day as much for pleasure and normalcy as for the health value. I never tried to exhaust myself.

I would recommend this approach to anyone. 1) Do a little as often as daily if you can. 2) Adjust so that you are pursuing health not fitness. 3) Ask your MD or other medical professionals if you have questions about your choices. Let them know your overall exercise plans. 4) Don’t exhaust yourself. 5) Enjoy it! Get outdoors, hear the birds, feel the sunshine, and give yourself the permission to know that a little is often as meaningful to your healing as a lot!

This is what I will tell people tomorrow: Make your exercise plans meaningful for you and you are very likely to aid your healing on many levels: the levels you can measure and the levels you can not. Exercise has immeasurable value to offer your health. Enjoy.

Ten cancer survivors are profiled in the book; they each used exercise as a way to heal from and cope with cancer treatment. Each profile helps you understand real examples of how cancer survivors stayed motivated, stayed active, and displayed courage during their cancer recoveries.

The amount of exercise that they each did, the type, and the intensity vary, as do their ages and cancer types. What didn’t vary was their commitment to staying active in pursuit of a full recovery.

Riding with Livestrong founder, Lance Armstrong, 2011

Here are some of the people who are profiled in the book.

• A woman who was told to “get her affairs in order” after battling brain cancer, but who, many years later, in 2010, completed a run across the country from California to Florida in one summer. She is an advocate for healthy lifestyles and an author.
• A man who lives with blood cancer, but who competes in running events including 24-hour run events–at age 69. His doctor applauds his running and healthy lifestyle.
• A breast cancer survivor and mother who makes time for daily exercise and participated meaningfully in cancer fundraisers such as Romp to Stomp.
• A former high school and college stand-out athlete, who underwent treatment for her cancer in high school, but whose determination to stay involved in sports and whose recovery made her college sports career possible. She is becoming an oncology nurse. She is also a TNT alum.
• A woman who is a blood cancer survivor who uses yoga as a daily ritual and helps others in her community experience yoga therapy for the health and well-being.
• A man who faced colon cancer treatment by including a devotion to exercising at his gym, and whose doctor applauded his activities and commended his ability to tolerate a complete, arduous course of treatment… and succeed.
• A breast and ovarian cancer survivor who used activity during treatment, and who is a long-time survivor and founder of a foundation for cancer survivors.
• An ovarian cancer and kidney disease (two transplants) survivor who used bike riding and other activities in her multiple comebacks, and raced in the Livestrong Challenge.
• An ovarian cancer survivor who used hiking, walking, swimming and water-skiing during her five-month-long chemotherapy, and participated in the Relay for Life Nordicstyle by the American Cancer Society.

The working title of my upcoming book, Exercise Beats Cancer, took some criticism today from a friend whom I esteem. Their concern was that a title like Exercise Beats Cancer seems to over-promise results. To them, that title seems to say that if you exercise you can conquer cancer.

Is that true? No. So, why use that title? It could confuse people. Someone might go to their doctor and say, “All I need to do is to exercise, and this book says that I can beat cancer. Why do I need surgery and chemo or radiation?”

Well, I admit, I hadn’t thought of it like that. I certainly didn’t want to imply that exercise was the only tool needed to use against cancer. I don’t want any patients to disregard their doctors’ advice or avoid medical treatment. Not at all.

So, the book’s title has changed. And that’s okay. Thanks for the feedback!