Ottawa woman’s amazing Ironman achievement,
Active her whole life, Sindy Hooper did it for a sense of normalcy during treatment, writes MARC WEBER.
As the midnight cutoff neared, the crowd remained. It was still several rows deep at the home stretch.
And when Sindy Hooper crossed the finish line at 11:24 p.m., under the glow of spotlights and beaming faces in the black night, with husband Jon and without half her pancreas, half her stomach, her gallbladder and a third of her small intestine, the noise was no different than when the pros had claimed their Subaru Ironman Canada titles seven or eight hours before.
Hooper, 50, of Ottawa, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January, after which she endured 7½ hours of surgery.
Fourteen chemotherapy sessions in, with three more to come, she completed on Sunday one of the most gruelling events there is — a 3.8-kilometre swim, 180-km bicycle ride, and 42.2-km run.
Active her whole life, she did it for a sense of normalcy during treatment. She did it to raise awareness and money for Pancreatic Cancer Canada. And she did it simply because she’d already signed up before her diagnosis.
“If this (cancer) had all happened sooner, I would have never registered for an Ironman,” said Hooper, a mother of two who might be the first person ever to compete in the event while undergoing chemotherapy. “But I was already registered, and I really wanted to come out here with my husband and all my friends. I initially thought, ‘I’ll just try to do the swim.’ And then, as we starting training, I thought, ‘I’ll just see if I can bike and run,’ and we just took it one day at a time and listened to my body.
“I really didn’t think I was going to be able to finish. I was just so surprised I was able to do this. I wasn’t able to do the training I should have done, so it was a big shock.”
Radiation and chemotherapy, Hooper wrote in a blog post, is like trying to kill a mosquito with a baseball bat. So there have been good days and bad ones since January.
She ran a five-km race in Ottawa in May but couldn’t jog more than 200 metres straight on Sunday when she swam great, thought about quitting late in the bike, and walked much of the back half of the course.
Jon’s support, and sense, were crucial. He’s a physician at The Ottawa Hospital.
“She listens to the physician’s opinion a lot more than the husband’s opinion,” he said, smiling. “I had to pull that card out a few times.
“If you’re healthy, you can push yourself to places you probably shouldn’t push yourself but do anyway. We didn’t want to go there.”
Hooper’s an excellent athlete. She finished the Mont Tremblant Ironman in 11 hours, 38 minutes last year, and missed a spot at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii by just two places.
That training base, and an iron will, carried her on Sunday, too. So did the knowledge that her story has affected others.
Hooper had raised $20,000 for Pancreatic Cancer Canada before the race began — apparel company Sugoi helped out with inspirational cycling jerseys for her to sell — and she met her share of supportive strangers on Sunday.
Hooper’s crew in Whistler also included a handful of fellow Ironman competitors from Ottawa, and family from Vancouver and Kelowna, B.C.
Her next chemotherapy treatment is Thursday. Then Sept. 5 and 12, “and I’ll be all done,” she said. “I’m really happy about that.”