Tom Thai via Wikimedia Commons
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An Upper East Side mother facing a life-threatening cancer battle is preparing to run the New York City Marathon this Sunday — determined to keep moving, raise awareness, and inspire others to get screened.
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Liz Healy, 45, has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and stage 2 kidney cancer. Despite enduring multiple surgeries, rounds of chemotherapy, and radiation treatments to her brain and bones, she’s refusing to slow down. This weekend marks her fifth time running the marathon — and her fourth year as part of Fred’s Team, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s official running program that raises funds for cancer research.Healy, who first learned of her diagnoses following a skiing accident three years ago, says movement has always been central to how she copes with life’s challenges.
“Running and movement has always been kind of a mental health approach to life to me,” she told ABC 7, which first reported this story.
Her commitment to movement has taken on new meaning as her cancer has spread to her lungs, brain, bones, hip, and shoulder. She describes her daily runs as both therapy and medicine — as critical, she says, as the medical treatment she receives.
Through her efforts, Healy hopes to raise awareness about the importance of early detection and regular screenings for colorectal cancer — a disease that often goes unnoticed until it’s advanced. “And I’m in the fight of my life, I had no symptoms at the time that I would have gone to a doctor,” Healy said. “I had more bloating and gas than I had normally. And the reality is I didn’t know what the symptoms of colorectal cancer was at that time.”
Healy and her family have been open about their experience, using her platform to encourage others to learn their family histories and take preventative action.
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Running with New York Road Runners’ “Team Inspire” and Fred’s Team, Healy has set a goal of raising $100,000 for colon cancer research. Her sub-team, “Team Check Your Colon,” has already surpassed that milestone, bringing in more than $144,000 to support Memorial Sloan Kettering.“I’m currently fighting for my life,” she said. “And our family would like to save at least one other person, one other family, from this journey — and it can be done by getting screened.”
You can support Healy, Team Check Your Colon, and Fred’s Team by visiting her fundraising page here.
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