Shred415 is equal parts physically and psychologically healing.
This month will mark one year since I finished chemo for invasive breast cancer. I was diagnosed on February 13, 2015 and finished four months of chemo on July 7, 2015 (exactly one week before my baby turned one). I was so weak that I could barely walk. My white blood cell count was shot, my energy was shot, my strength was shot, and my resolve was wounded. But I still had surgery and radiation ahead of me—and most importantly, I had my husband and my six-, four-, and almost one-year-old children at home, so I put on my (semi-pretend) brave face and put one foot in front of the other.
It’s still hard for me to believe that I’m telling this story about myself. Specifically, I have a hard time believing that a body, which I treated so well, got me sick at 36 with no gene, no indications, and no risk factors. But whether it could be explained or not didn’t matter—my body needed to be taken down to its studs in order for the disease to be fought.
So come November 2015, when I finished nine months of treatment, I was incredibly eager to feel and look like myself again. And although immediately following cancer treatment might seem like a strange time to try Shred415, for me it was the perfect time. My treatment had started before I could drop lingering baby weight from my third pregnancy, not to mention the impact of a major steroid regime during chemo, so my body was not mine. I went to Shred415 looking for me again.
And slowly but surely, over weeks and weeks, I started recognizing myself in the mirror. My strength grew, my puffiness subsided, my weight dropped, my breathing steadied, and my speed and stamina increased. And although I’m nowhere near perfect, I adopted that old mantra of “I don’t have to be perfect, I just have to be good.” So I show up to be good every time.
Shred415 is the place I can fight ghosts of cancer past, where I can battle anxieties of future testing, and where I can let all of that go and be acutely present in the 30 seconds of sprinting as fast as this war-torn body of mine will go. It’s equal parts physically and psychologically healing.
It’s a place where I can leave it all on the deck and treads, where I believe it when my instructors say, “There is nothing left to hold on to.” And I can walk away refreshed, renewed, and stronger than I was yesterday.
Lastly, I had a big first scan last week and… THE RESULTS WERE CLEAR!
To become Shredder of the Month, submit your Shred415 success story to [email protected]. Whomever is chosen will receive an unlimited month of Shred415 classes. He or she will also be recognized on our blog and social media channels.
