Day 14: Shana Callahan

Today we ran from Hays, KS to Salina, KS. 

My running partner was Lauriann. She runs for her father. He passed away 5 years ago from Pancreatic Cancer.

We finished our 12 miles, no problem. We even did arm workouts during the breaks before the van got back to pick us up! Lauriann timed each segment we ran and it totaled up to a little less than 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Lindsay, Myself and Bethy at Speakeasy

Tonight some of us went out to a Bar and Grill for food and good company. We went to the Speakeasy in Salina, KS. There were lots of people there for a high school reunion. They were looking through old yearbooks and everything!! We had a good time talking about the trip so far and we spotted a man that looked identical to one of the head guys in charge of the 4k For Cancer program.  We made our way back to NCCC for bed at our normal time since we can’t sleep in through their Sunday services.

Today was dedicated to Shana Callahan, a teammate of mine. Shana was diagnosed with DCIS a couple years ago. She had a lumpectomy and decided not to go through radiation. Her doctors told her that without the treatment the chance of cancer coming back was much higher but Shana felt like it wouldn’t. She knew they had removed all the cancerous cells (in the ducts) and felt that the chances of her getting breast cancer were now the same as any other female out there. She had regular appointments to be checked - more often than normal annual appointments. 

The DCIS did come back. Shana had it removed once again and did radiation. She now has doctor appointments every two months. Before flying out to San Francisco to start our run, Shana had another scare. Thankfully, this lump was a cist not a tumor.

We are so blessed to have Shana on our team. She is the only member that has had cancer. Her story makes us all realize that it can happen to anyone. She inspires us to keep going. If a person I run with, and sleep on the floor in our sleeping bags with, and eat bagels with peanut butter on it everyday, can do this – then so can I! I feel like that inspiration is something that everyone gets from being on a team with Shana.

Total Miles: 149