A visit from @deneigebroom @WFTV interviewing Gigi about her #breastcancer and running the virtual @bostonmarathon Sept 12. Gigi’s story is inspiring and we hope people will come cheer her race, making a comeback from chemo & raising funds for a great charity... 
Gigi is supporting the Sisters Network, Orlando chapter, which is raising awareness of breast cancer among African American women and supporting women who have been diagnosed. gofundme.com/f/gigis-marath…
3/ Her ordeal was storybook amazing. She tried to run her 1st marathon in Feb. 2018 but at 20 miles she hit the wall HARD. A friend & I happened to be right where she passed out, holding her up her as she fell. She was incoherent but refused to stop trying. An ambulance took her.
4/ At the ER when she became coherent she remembers asking “How far did I make it?”🥺 !!! The race organizers offered her a medal🏅 but she refused, accepting only the Half Marathon medal for the part she completed. She committed to come back & qualify for the @bostonmarathon!
5/ She trained super hard and was on-track to finish her 1st marathon and qualify for Boston. She ran her 20 mile training run 3 weeks before the race (as recommended by all the programs). Then you’re supposed to recover for three weeks. You never train more than the 20 miles.
6/ The next day she went to the doctor’s office who informed her she had serious, aggressive breast cancer. She asked if she could run her marathon before treatment. They said No! You need chemo IMMEDIATELY. Then a double mastectomy. Then a year of immunotherapy. Now!!!
7/ Chemotherapy hurts a runner. They told her she would likely never get her speed back. She would never qualify for the Boston. She was heartbroken and cried—loudly—in the doctor’s office for about 20 minutes. Chemo would start in a few days. 💔😢
8/ So in the doctor’s office while waiting for the nurse she got on her phone and found a marathon in 2 days, 465 miles away in Pensacola. She registered and the next day we drove there. She was not ready since she had just run 20 miles, but this was her last chance before chemo.
9/ She gave up her hope of qualifying for Boston and simply wanted to finish. She wanted to go into chemo with a “win” to bolster her confidence, rather than a loss. She couldn’t risk hoping for more. A friend mapped the course and told me where to drive to see her four times.
10/ I wanted to make an analogy to build her confidence. Every time she ran by I would say, “This is like January: you are now 1/4 of the way done with chemo!” But I was worried and decided to judge by how well she was doing before saying it. She didn’t need a negative analogy!
11/ The people at the water station saw the kids and me waiting and asked why we were there (at the 1/4 mile point in the boonies) so we told them her story. They called a meeting and planned to cheer for her when she came by. (They were all dressed as “Where’s Waldo”😂)
12/ When she came running up I ran along and asked he she felt. She was almost laughing and said “This is EASY!” She couldn’t believe it. She was ahead of her best desired pace and felt great. Everyone called her name and cheered. (That’s her running on past in this photo.)
13/ At the 20 mile spot she was late. I was worried since that’s where she lost consciousness on the 1st attempt. It turns out I was at the 21 mile spot so she wasn’t late. Whew! Again all the volunteers yelled. She was marveling at how great she felt, beating her best pace.
14/ The kids and I zoomed to the finish line and caught the end of her race. The best part of this story is next...
15/ She didn’t just finish. She got first in her age division, and first in 2 of the younger age divisions, and was 15th woman overall in the entire race, and she beat the Boston qualifying time by 4 minutes! But best of all...
16/ ...when it finally sunk in, an amazing thing had just happened, she fell to her knees crying, and I heard between sobs, “If I can do this...I can get through chemotherapy.” (Yes!)
17/ About 3 or 4 days later, chemo started. It sucked. It sucked the whole time. It was hard. But friends and family surrounded us. People brought food every day. People cleaned our house. Gigi ran the marathon.
18/ She wore freezing gloves to keep her hands and feet cold to reduce the severity of permanent nerve damage from the chemo. She suffered some damage but it could’ve been much worse. The freezing cold was just one more thing that made it hard.
19/ After her last chemo session she rang the bell. 😭🎉
20/ Then she had about FIVE surgeries including a double mastectomy and reconstruction. Then continued immunotherapy for a year. Finally she was declared cancer free. 🙏
21/ But running...yep. Making a comeback is hard. Chemo does damage your body. Here is her Orlando running friends. The jacket came to her from the water table people in Pensacola! ❤️ They adopted her into their running group and are giving her a lot of encouragement.
22/ Last year Gigi and I were invited to the Apollo 50th anniversary celebration at the @JFKLibrary in Boston, so we walked part of the marathon course, found a hotel, got mentally ready for it...
23/ But then #COVID happened. Boston was at first delayed, and then converted into a virtual race. So Gigi will run her race here in Orlando. Friends are setting up water tables 😄 We hope to get people to come out and cheer. Gigi is dedicating it to breast cancer awareness,...
24/ ...especially breast cancer awareness among African American women, for whom it is especially devastating. Here are some of the statistics. Check the link, too. Gigi met this wonderful group when they visited her in the hospital while undergoing chemo. sistersnetworkorlando.net
25/25 So please 🙏 share this thread and please visit the GoFundMe. All proceeds go to the Sisters Network Inc to help women who are facing their own marathon of breast cancer. Please help ❤️ You can make an amazing difference in their lives. gofundme.com/f/gigis-marath…
