Pictou County woman fights off cancer, still running
May 1, 2017, was the day things changed for Wanda McKenna.
That was when the 57-year-old teacher at North Nova Education Centre learned she had breast cancer.
“It was the worst fear. I was terrified, cried a lot. I wouldn’t let on to my kids, but my husband knew how afraid I was,” say McKenna.
“Everything changed. Surgeries, other treatments – they start happening really fast.”
Ready to fight for her life in the spring of 2017, she was determined to enter the 10K run at the Johnny Miles Weekend, just weeks after she received the diagnosis.
“I asked my surgeon if I could still go in the Johnny Miles and she looked at me like I had three heads,” she says.
McKenna entered the race, and while she ran very little of it, and had to walk most of the 10K, “it was really important for me to do it.”
In August, rounds of chemotherapy treatment made her extremely weak; it was difficult for her to even walk from the front door to the car in the driveway. But she was getting better; late last fall, she was staying at The Lodge That Gives (in Halifax) while going through two months of radiation and had access to a treadmill, when she felt up for it.
“I’m grateful for running. I think it helped me take my treatment better – I didn’t feel as sick as I suppose I could have.”
McKenna is fine now – her cancer had been discovered early and the treatment was a success; she’s heading back to NNEC next fall to finish her final year of teaching before she retires.
Johnny Miles race director Terry Curley said that the serious competitors aren’t the main feature of the JMM; it’s the person who lost 100 pounds and turned his or her life around, or perhaps someone who, like Wanda McKenna, uses running as a form of therapy to help them get through a difficult time.
“Those, to me, are the real stories behind this event,” he says. “And that’s what we’re here for.”
Five years ago, McKenna suddenly got the idea to become a runner and she found it gave her a physical and mental boost.
“My husband (Jim) tells me, ‘You’re like Forrest Gump – you just decided one day to start running,’” she says with a smile.
“When I’m running, I don’t think about anything else. It’s a great stress reliever, and great fun. I feel good when I’m running and I feel good when I’m done. And it’s a not a competitive thing – I don’t have to compete with anybody when I’m running.”
On Thursday night, McKenna showed up at the fifth annual Johnny Miles Special Recognition Awards Night, and was surprised with a Danny MacLeod Inspirational Award.
McKenna has the support of her family and friends, which includes a Learn to Run Club at the YMCA, and she will enter the 10K this Sunday.
All of these things, she says, “helped get me through a really tough year.”
“Everything changed. Surgeries, other treatments — they start happening really fast.”