Inspiration Profiles
Susan (right) in standard Bend, Ore. adventure run attire.
Susan Zimmerman
by Jake Stein
In November 2013, Susan Zimmerman was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. At the age of 44, she began the standard regime of Western medicine — chemo, surgery (mastectomy), and radiation, in that order. She also began seeing an acupuncturist and a naturopath. But according to Susan, by far the most important healer in the fight was herself. She read everything she could find about alternative therapies, spirituality, and theories of cancer, in addition to speaking with survivors and learning about their healing journeys.
“Everyone always said, ‘you have to be your own advocate,” Susan explains, “and now I know it’s the truth.”
Susan currently trail runs, hikes and rides motorcycles with her husband, including an off-road Baja California Sur tour this past Thanksgiving.
“Cancer jump-started a hundred ‘just do it’ goals I had in my life that I was probably never going to do,” says Susan. “My fight is my lifestyle.” But instead of a fight, Susan likes to think of it as “optimizing health.” She is focusing on loving the self that she neglected in the past. She sticks to her supplement regime like religion. “Fruits and veggies are the name of the game now.”
“In keeping myself healthy and cancer-free, there were radical changes I made to my lifestyle, like practicing gratitude… slowing down and refusing to stress about anything… and taking care of important relationships with others.”
Susan describes herself during that initial shockwave after her diagnoses as “gripped with fear.” She was stunned. And how could you not be? But with a support system of friends and loved ones, and herself-driving optimism, she made it through. “In a wonderful email message [Geoff Babb] reminded my husband and I that this is “our next great adventure.”
“Cancer as an adventure?” Susan thought? “Yes, it made all the sense in the world to me.”
And Susan has tackled cancer with such a perspective ever since. She remembers driving to early morning winter appointments for chemotherapy with friend Yvonne Babb, “packed to the gills with healthy food for the long day ahead. She remembers her family gathering around her via phone, email, and visiting during various stages of treatment. She remembers her girlfriend from Ohio flying to stay with her during radiation for two weeks, and her mother-in-law and energy healer, giving her countless long-distance treatments. And she remembers these days not as dark, but full of active friendship and love. “I felt my whole world gather around me in countless ways.”
A life-long runner, Susan is planning to make this year her best running year yet by participating in all of Bend, Oregon’s major runs — the Horse Butte 10-miler, the Pole Pedal Paddle (with Team Onward!), the Happy Girls Half Marathon, the Dirty Half Marathon, the Haulin’ Aspen Half, and the High Alpine Half. Not surprisingly, Susan describes herself and her husband as “pretty crazy about getting outside for adventure whenever [they] can.”
As if all that wasn’t enough, Susan is deciding if full marathons are good for her or not.
When Susan was first diagnosed she was stunned with fear for a few months. “But knowledge and acceptance set me free.” Susan changed her perspective from “fight” to “adventure,” and it seems to have made all the difference.
“Cancer as a wake up call and blessing?” she says. “Indeed!”
by Jake Stein
In November 2013, Susan Zimmerman was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. At the age of 44, she began the standard regime of Western medicine — chemo, surgery (mastectomy), and radiation, in that order. She also began seeing an acupuncturist and a naturopath. But according to Susan, by far the most important healer in the fight was herself. She read everything she could find about alternative therapies, spirituality, and theories of cancer, in addition to speaking with survivors and learning about their healing journeys.
“Everyone always said, ‘you have to be your own advocate,” Susan explains, “and now I know it’s the truth.”
Susan currently trail runs, hikes and rides motorcycles with her husband, including an off-road Baja California Sur tour this past Thanksgiving.
“Cancer jump-started a hundred ‘just do it’ goals I had in my life that I was probably never going to do,” says Susan. “My fight is my lifestyle.” But instead of a fight, Susan likes to think of it as “optimizing health.” She is focusing on loving the self that she neglected in the past. She sticks to her supplement regime like religion. “Fruits and veggies are the name of the game now.”
“In keeping myself healthy and cancer-free, there were radical changes I made to my lifestyle, like practicing gratitude… slowing down and refusing to stress about anything… and taking care of important relationships with others.”
Susan describes herself during that initial shockwave after her diagnoses as “gripped with fear.” She was stunned. And how could you not be? But with a support system of friends and loved ones, and herself-driving optimism, she made it through. “In a wonderful email message [Geoff Babb] reminded my husband and I that this is “our next great adventure.”
“Cancer as an adventure?” Susan thought? “Yes, it made all the sense in the world to me.”
And Susan has tackled cancer with such a perspective ever since. She remembers driving to early morning winter appointments for chemotherapy with friend Yvonne Babb, “packed to the gills with healthy food for the long day ahead. She remembers her family gathering around her via phone, email, and visiting during various stages of treatment. She remembers her girlfriend from Ohio flying to stay with her during radiation for two weeks, and her mother-in-law and energy healer, giving her countless long-distance treatments. And she remembers these days not as dark, but full of active friendship and love. “I felt my whole world gather around me in countless ways.”
A life-long runner, Susan is planning to make this year her best running year yet by participating in all of Bend, Oregon’s major runs — the Horse Butte 10-miler, the Pole Pedal Paddle (with Team Onward!), the Happy Girls Half Marathon, the Dirty Half Marathon, the Haulin’ Aspen Half, and the High Alpine Half. Not surprisingly, Susan describes herself and her husband as “pretty crazy about getting outside for adventure whenever [they] can.”
As if all that wasn’t enough, Susan is deciding if full marathons are good for her or not.
When Susan was first diagnosed she was stunned with fear for a few months. “But knowledge and acceptance set me free.” Susan changed her perspective from “fight” to “adventure,” and it seems to have made all the difference.
“Cancer as a wake up call and blessing?” she says. “Indeed!”
Kerri Vanderbom
By Jake Stein
Kerri Vanderbom is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she works at Lakeshore Foundation. She gets to watch Paralympic national and international sports teams practice in her spare time, and she stays active by playing on the Lakeshore basketball team with her husband, Derek. But before life in academia, Kerri was a world champion adapted water-skier.
And Kerri was born with spina bifida.
(Click here to see a .pdf of the rest of Kerri's story!)