Cancer survivor taking on Pittsburgh Marathon to support doctors who saved her life
More than 35,000 people will participate in Marathon events this weekend. In the back half of the Pittsburgh Marathon on Sunday, you'll find people running for a reason and walking to raise money to support causes near and dear to their hearts.
For Kristin Hughes, her 13-mile mission comes four months after she finished a race to save her life.
“This past year, I’ve been going through a pretty difficult time overcoming cancer,” she said.
Through that difficult time, walking has been an important form of therapy and motivation for Kristin.
“I was walking with a very good friend and talking about my symptoms and within three weeks I found out I had a disease that could maybe kill me,” Kristin said. “It was really traumatic.”
The diagnosis from the doctors at UPMC Magee-Women's Hospital: Cancer
“I had uterine cancer,” she said. “Carcinosarcoma of the uterus, which is a very rare cancer. “It was treated early, so I was really fortunate to have caught it at a time where it didn't spread quickly through the rest of my body.”
As a former Division One athlete at Syracuse, exercise is a huge part of Kristin’s life. Halfway through her six rounds of chemotherapy, the 54-year-old Carnegie Mellon professor decided to walk in a 5K to raise money to support further research in gynecologic cancers.
After her aggressive course of radiation ended in January, she celebrated by walking the Miami Half Marathon.
“I think every step of the way, I was lifted up by family and friends who gave me hope and the will to live, so walking was a big part of that,” Kristin said.
She'll end the back half of this year's Pittsburgh Marathon with her support team, envisioning her hope: Crossing the finish line, leaving cancer behind.
“We can always look at things as either positive or negative and to get to a point where you really challenge yourself to do something to reaffirm life," Kristin said. “That's part of what this walking is about. It just reminds you these things in life are always challenging, and we overcome it, together.”
After finishing her intense treatment for uterine cancer, doctors plan to screen Kristin every three months. In turn, she decided to come up with something to challenge herself every three months to give her something to look forward to and inspire her.
The Pittsburgh Marathon this weekend is one of them. So far, she's raised more than $6,000 for the Magee-Women's Research Institute and Foundation to support the doctors who helped save her life.