TRIATHLETE’S LONG ROAD BACK FROM CANCER
Amy Marsh is racing Monday for just the second time since her diagnosis.
Triathlete Amy Marsh knows what it’s like to compete at the pinnacle of the grueling sport.
Racing as a professional, Marsh triumphed in triathlons in the U.S., China and Brazil, and five years ago, she placed 10th in the women’s field at the prestigious Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, which consisted of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike leg and a full marathon.
On Monday, when she runs into Lady Bird Lake for the start of the Life Time Tri CapTex, though, Marsh will be happy if she can meet a modest goal: a top-10 finish in the sprint-distance race that offers up a 0.46-mile swim, a 12.3-
mile bike leg and a 3.1-mile run. At 39, Marsh finds herself rebuilding her life after completing treatment for acute myeloid leukemia, a type of blood and bone mar- row cancer. Diagnosed with the illness in 2014, Marsh is in remission after undergoing multiple rounds of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.
“Your life can change in a day,” said Marsh, a former swimmer for the University of Minnesota who’s lived in Austin since 2001. “I was working out, seem- ingly healthy, and the next day I was hooked up to chemotherapy. You never know what’s going to be ahead.”
In 2014, Marsh realized her body was telling her some- thing was wrong, and the message became clear to her after she competed in a sprint-distance triathlon in October of that year.
Marsh and her husband, Brandon, also a pro triathlete, made a habit of having a routine blood workup before traveling to Flagstaff, Ariz., to train at altitude. In the fall of 2014, her test results showed her cell counts were off, although she was largely asymptomatic, save for feel- ing a bit tired. By Decem- ber, though, a bone marrow biopsy had led to the diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia.
Marsh approached her fight against AML the same way she approached the demands of competing as a triathlete, embracing a “let’s beat this” attitude. During the 18 months after her diag- nosis, she soldiered through five rounds of chemotherapy — surviving several bouts of chemo-induced fevers — before receiving a stem cell transplant in June 2015 to restore her bone marrow.
“The physicians were shocked that someone in my condition would get AML,” Marsh said, “but being fit enabled me to handle the higher doses (of chemother- apy). My two year ‘re-birth- day’ — that’s what they call the stem cell transplant — is coming up in a few days. I’ve come a long way.
“Right now I’m trying to stay fit — maybe eight hours a week of working out. I swim two days a week, bike once or twice a week, run three times. I also get in some workouts in the gym. I’ve lost some strength, but other than that, I feel pretty fit.”
As she endured treatment for AML, Marsh fretted that the disease had forced her into an early retirement as an athlete, and she was driven to finish her compet- itive career as a triathlete on her own terms. Just three weeks ago, Marsh raced for the first time since her cancer diagnosis, competing in the 14th annual Rookie Triathlon at Lake Walter E. Long. (Until April, Marsh had been instructed by her doctors to avoid open-water swimming because of concerns about possible bacte- rial infections.)
Marsh placed third in the women’s field of the beginner-style event, which consisted of a 300-meter swim, an 11-mile bike leg and a 2-mile run. Encouraged by how she felt after the event, she decided to enter the Life Time Tri CapTex.
“If I spent more time train- ing, I could get back to a high level,” said Marsh, who works as a swim coach for Longhorn Aquatics. “I’m happy where I am right now, though. The goal for Cap- Tex on Monday is to have fun and enjoy being out racing again.
“There’s a part of me that would like to do an Iron- man just so I can move on to other aspects of my life, but I don’t know. I’ll see how the sprint distances go. If I enjoy the sprint, I may consider going longer.”
Like Marsh, Austin’s James Bonney is a former pro triathlete who rose to the Iron- man level. He understands what’s driving Marsh to compete in the Tri CapTex and future events.
“I know Amy was in the thick of her career when this went down, and that she was blindsided by it,” Bonney said. “I think it’s great what she’s doing, and I understand how important it is to finish her career the way she wants. If she does go back to full pro, there will be a lot of people supporting her.”