Me and Andy after the run - stoked but struggling to stand!
Equinox runners and walkers raising money for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Andrew Roberts, who plans to run the Equinox Marathon today, is doing so out of gratitude and a desire to help others.
Though he hopes to reach the finish line in about four hours, for him, even just reaching the starting line after what he’s been through has to be considered one of life’s victories.
“I feel like the luckiest man alive,” he said.
He is part of the Fairbanks contingent of runners and walkers competing for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training. Together, they have raised about $100,000 to fight cancer and honor the memory of Susan Butcher and others.
Roberts, 36, is a meteorologist and a post-doctoral fellow at the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center and the International Arctic Research Center at UAF. He is working on a new high resolution computer model of the Arctic being developed by a group of U.S. institutions.
He is also a survivor of blood cancer.
He and his wife, Anna, moved to Fairbanks from Australia three years ago to begin a research fellowship. About a year later he noticed a small painless lump on his neck that grew by the day.
Several weeks of medical tests produced a diagnosis that he was suffering from lymphoma, an blood cancer related to leukemia.
Chemotherapy and radiation therapy followed. He didn’t smoke, he was healthy and there was no family history of the disease. In other words, he had no clue why the disease struck.
The chemical treatments involved a strong cocktail of drugs administered intravenously every two or three weeks.
“The drugs halt progression of cancer cells, but they also limit production of healthy cells, causing substantial side effects,” he said.
One of those is increased susceptibility to infection and weakness. He became anemic and sometimes fainted simply because he stood up. Exhaustion became a normal part of his life.
One of the things he learned along the way, he said, was that a positive attitude is important in fighting a life-threatening disease.
“The real trick with cancer, I discovered, was to never let it get your mind,” he said.
“Each day during therapy I would go for a walk, regardless of how slowly, sometimes with my wife by my side to make sure I didn’t fall over.”
As he took each step, he repeated words that became a personal mantra: “This cancer has chosen the wrong body and I am going to beat it.”
Roberts said that with the help of medical research, the doctors and nurses at the Fairbanks Cancer Treatment Center and “my wonderful wife,” he has made enormous strides back to a healthy life.
Eighteen months after ending treatment he is still cancer-free and regaining his strength.
Roberts was a long-distance runner in Australia and he has put in more than 300 miles training for the Equinox.
When he was sick, friends hosted a community spaghetti feed for his family and he wants to respond by raising as much money as he can for the Team in Training.
One of the side effects of chemotherapy was a reduction in fertility. Because the Roberts wanted children, they made an rush trip to a male fertility clinic in Seattle before the chemical injections began. They had a child conceived by in vitro fertilization in Melbourne, Australia.
About four weeks ago, Anna gave birth to Chloe at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.
“Chloe is our pride and joy and we call her our little survivor,” Roberts said. “She’s the greatest thing to come from our recent challenge.”
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