Атлетка переживет рак прямой кишки благодаря ранней диагностике и поддержке сообщества

Kimberly Savage is an athlete. She’s used to her body hurting. She’s used to the kind of pain and exhaustion training for and running marathons brings. Couple that with a professional career, family life and the joys of parenthood, and perhaps it’s no surprise she missed the real message her body was sending: colorectal cancer. “The lesson I would have people take from this is don’t false diagnose yourself. If you’re having symptoms, especially gastro symptoms, get it checked out. I feel like had I not ignored the symptoms and confused them for running symptoms, they would have found polyps instead of a tumor that had grown so big,” she said. The process also grew her faith, and her feeling that the Central Coast is the home they were meant to have. “It grew my faith. There’s a proverb that says a joyful heart is good medicine, but a sad heart is brittle to the bones, so I always try to stay positive through my treatment and my whole procedure,” Savage said. Her downward health spiral began in September 2022 when she started having abdominal issues coming off one of her best marathon performances. “I dismissed those as runner’s stomach,” Savage said. Multiple studies have shown that 30% to 50% of distance runners suffer nausea, cramping and the urgent need to turn their attention from the race course to the race for the toilet mid-stride. A marathoner since 2018, she did find it odd when her energy levels began to drop, and she found blood in her stool. As a woman who had a history of pregnancy-induced anemia, she recognized the signs of low iron and began taking supplements, and she began taking probiotics in an effort to boost gut health. “I Googled it, because we all Google our symptoms. The symptoms pointed to things like colitis, Crohn’s disease, so I associated my symptoms with gut issues. The last thing on the list of things it could be was cancer, but I laughed it off because I thought, ‘There’s just no way.’ I ate really well, worked out all the time, hadn’t had any complications with pregnancies, so I totally disregarded that suggestion,” Savage recalled. She carried on, but by January 2023, as her family moved from Bakersfield to Arroyo Grande, her running was really taking a hit. “I was barely able to run two or three miles without pain. I was light-headed, dizzy, always cold. I started falling on runs. I still thought it was all associated with running,” Savage said. She began limiting her diet to completely avoid processed foods and anything with wheat in it, but symptoms just got worse. After talking to friends about it, she reached out to gastroenterologists, but they wouldn’t see her without a referral from a primary care physician. “I couldn’t find one here, so I let it go another year,” Savage said. She was up three or four times each night with urgency, but inability, to clear her system. She stopped running, but was still dizzy with low blood pressure. Her back was hurting, but she’d injured it in her youth so attributed that pain to her old injury. Her husband pointed out her inability to sleep through a single night likely contributed to her exhaustion, and he pushed her to see a doctor. Sign up to receive headlines in your inbox! As she built community volunteering at her children’s school, St. Patrick’s Catholic School, and attending the family’s new church, Grace Bible, new mom connections led her to Dr. Jennifer Irvine. “When she did my labs, everything was abnormal. I was anemic. My red blood cell count was way off. She immediately sent me to the gastroenterologist,” Savage said. In November 2024, an endoscopy and colonoscopy turned up an answer clear as day: a bleeding tumor measuring just over 3 inches in diameter in her rectum. It was stage three colorectal cancer. “Had the tumor been any higher, I wouldn’t have had those symptoms, so it was a blessing in disguise. I couldn't ignore it. And the bleeding from the tumor was causing me to be iron deficient. It all made sense,” she said. Where one doctor told her she’d be facing a permanent ileostomy bag, a second opinion offered by Mission Hope’s Dr. Joel Dean led her down an entirely different prognosis. The gastroenterologist who specializes in robotic surgery proffered a temporary ileostomy while her system recovered from the tumor removal, then reversal of that surgery to restore her natural intestinal path. She started chemotherapy in January 2025 under the care of Mission Hope’s Dr. Keith Ayrons, picked up running again, and by April the tumor had reduced in size by half. In May, the tumor was removed, there were no further signs of cancer, and the temporary ileostomy was reversed six days later. As she’s healed her energy has returned, breathing new life not only into her running — she’s up to half marathons now — but also into fully enjoying parenting again. “With me being sick, I had no energy to really do things with my kids. I’d have to rest and sit. Now I’m able to go to the beach and go boogie boarding. I’m able to keep up with them. My life has been restored. The quality of time has expanded,” Savage said. In fact, she took a break from a basketball showdown with her son for this interview. “I’m able to count my blessing. Yes, I’m going to have this permanent scar, but instead of being ashamed of it, it’s a reminder that I survived cancer, there was a treatment available. It’s a reminder to me to be thankful every day. The scar is not a beautiful scar, but it’s a reminder every day to thank God,” Savage said And it’s a reminder, she said, of God’s timing. “I think there was a reason we moved here when we did. We didn’t have that kind of community before we came here We weren’t part of a church community there. I feel like the timing was right. It was all part of God’s timing to be here on the Central Coast,” Savage said. Just before being diagnosed, one of the nurses who came in was a mom friend she had made through her son’s soccer team. Her radiation oncologist as well as one of her doctors also have children at St. Patrick’s. “I felt comfort knowing members of our community were taking care of me. I felt like I was supposed to be here. It was always a very comfortable process with Mission Hope and Dr. Quezada’s team,” Savage said. She also noted that while she appreciated the offer of various services from Mission Hope — from wigs to physical therapy and support groups — she found herself sufficiently supported by her husband, parents, and newfound community. “Always keep hope. Trust your body. Listen to your body. And I think if you lean on your community and most importantly lean on your faith, you’re going to be fine. Some people fight the battle alone, and you don’t need to. "There are other people willing to help you,” Savage said.