Sara Wood treated her chemotherapy sessions like a swim race
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Sara Wood, a cash crop and broiler chicken producer from Mitchell, Ont., grew up involved in competitive swimming and channeled that experience during her battle with breast cancer.
She underwent eight rounds of chemotherapy and compared them to stages of a 400m swim race.
“I broke it down so that one treatment was 50m of each (swimming) stroke,” Wood told Farms.com. “I know that in the 400 individual medley, things get tough around 300m. So, I knew that’s six treatments and that I could get through those six and be fine, and two might be tough.”
Wood also had to lean on her perseverance to get to her treatments.
She went for a physical in June 2022.
While there, she pushed for more tests due to previous concerns.
“The nurse said we should do some blood tests,” Wood said. “The tests all came back normal, but the nurse felt a lump and pushed for a mammogram. I am so thankful for her.”
She received a diagnosis in August and confirmation of the diagnosis in September.
But her healthcare team wanted more concrete evidence. This meant more waiting and more procedures on her body.
“I finally saw a general surgeon on November 24th, and she confirmed, after six biopsies, that I was positive for breast cancer and would be going to see an oncologist next.”
The three months between the first diagnosis and the appointment with the surgeon proved to be difficult.
Deciding how and if to tell family, and how to explain the situation to her son with her husband, Chris, weighed heavily on her mind.
“It was frustrating because we knew in September that I was positive, but no one would send us along to the next person,” she said. “I was stressed and scared. I was 34 years old at the time with a four-year-old at home. We didn’t know what was next, and because of that we didn’t know if we wanted to even share with anyone.”
Her official diagnosis was invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), in Stage 3.
This meant the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and she would require radiation treatments.
Wood’s doctors sent her to the London Regional Cancer Program for care.
She started her chemotherapy treatments in the winter of 2022.
For her, the hair loss proved to be the hardest part of the chemotherapy stage.
One of her friends who is a hairdresser shaved her head, and that was okay.
But the reaction from some strangers and her own son were difficult, she said.
“I think I would’ve been fine,” she said. “But when I went to check into a hotel, about 12 hours after losing my hair, the guy at the reception desk wouldn’t even look at me. That was heartbreaking.
“And then my son, he’s a big swimmer and it’s kind of our thing. His friend was having a school birthday party and he didn’t want me to go. Because he didn’t want his friends to make fun of him, or me, but that was really hard.”
Woods checked into a Toronto hotel because letting breast cancer slow her down wasn't an option.
Only days after losing her hair and with two chemo treatments under her belt, she and a group of friends set off to Florida to run in the 2023 Walt Disney World Marathon in January.
Sara Wood at Disneyland (Supplied photo).
She completed the Dopey Challenge, which is a 5k, 10k, half marathon a full marathon on back to back days.
She finished with a total net time of 5:07:48, race results show.
Woods made it a point to keep up with her active lifestyle during her treatments.
“It made me feel like myself,” she said. “It gave me a point in every day that I had control over. After chemo on Fridays, I’d be tired and sleep the rest of the day. But on Saturdays I got up and went for a run. I also never missed an OFA meeting. I committed to being on that board and doing my part.”
Woods encourages other women going through breast cancer treatments to do the same.
Having a goal to work towards can help divide treatment processes so they don’t seem so daunting, she says.
She finished chemotherapy in the winter, had reconstruction surgery in April, radiation in July, and followed up with her doctors about two weeks ago.
Her cancer was estrogen based and she's working to mitigate future risks.
Her hair is growing back too.
“It’s thick and curly, which I never had before,” she said. “I wake up and I feel like I have bed head all the time.”
But that doesn’t mean she isn’t showing the signs of her battle.
She sought out counselling for how she looks and how she feels.
"It’s a lot of ‘what did I do to get to this point?’ she said. "And also, when I go to the cancer clinic, there are people that I used to see who aren’t there anymore. I have the feeling of why I survived and why didn’t they?”
Wood has taken two lessons away from her journey with breast cancer.
One is that it’s okay to accept help. And the other is she’s learned how strong she can be.
“Before, my mind would take over and I wouldn’t do something,” she said. “Now there’s no stopping me.