What Makes This Woman Run?

By Tom Minervino

When Julie Jordan Marchese was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, her first reaction was shock. Only a few years before, she had become involved with the Maine Cancer Foundation after her mother received a similar diagnosis.  Marchese received the difficult and unexpected news after going in for her annual mammogram.  “It takes you aback,” said Marchese, 48.  “The first thing I thought of was, ’What if I can’t see my children grow up?’ That really scared me.”

But Marchese, like her mother, survived the cancer. She said it taught her not to take life for granted anymore.  “After going through my cancer episode, there were things on my list to do that I’d never done,” she said. “One of them that intrigued me was a triathlon.”  Marchese said she’d always been active in her life, but exercise was never a true priority. Surviving cancer showed her the importance of being committed to healthy living. In order to get into shape, she set her eyes on the Danskin women’s triathlon in Webster, Mass., which involved a half-mile swim, 12-mile bike ride and 2.8-mile run.

Marchese convinced several other women some cancer survivors, some women just looking to get back in shape to join her. They set off on a 12-week training program.

“That was going to be my way to get in shape and do something for me, and also check it off my bucket list,” she said.  The triathlon experience proved life changing. Not so much the competition, but the women involved.

“It was overwhelming,” Marchese said. “It was a whole sisterhood, women helping women. It wasn’t about the race itself, it was about the camaraderie of women joining together to cross the finish line.  I decided I loved doing triathlons. I wasn’t the fastest. I was just amazed that I did it. I set a goal and did it. Crossing the finish line was almost like this euphoria. I was high for a week after.”

Marchese, a resident of Cumberland, has now completed 11 triathlons since her first in 2005 and works out six days a week. Exercise has become an integral part of her life.  “Before, it wasn’t a huge commitment,” she said. “It didn’t bother me if I didn’t do it for months on end. Now, it’s part of my life. I will never stop exercising unless I physically can’t.”

Recently, she’s taken it to a new level, trying to help other women conquer cancer and make healthy life choices while raising money for the Maine Cancer Foundation. She co-directed the first annual Tri for a Cure women’s triathlon, held Aug. 9 in South Portland.  Like Marchese’s own triathlon experience, Tri for a Cure exceeded all expectations.  The race had 500 registrants over 50 of whom were cancer survivors and raised about $230,000 dollars for the foundation, according to Marchese.  All that money will stay in Maine, with 85 percent going to cancer research and the rest toward patient services, she said.  Marchese and co-director Abby Bliss came up with the idea as an alternative to a golf tournament fundraiser. They figured they could raise $35,000 $10,00 more than the golf event usually produced. They realized it could be something special when the online registration, which opened on Jan. 1, reached the 500- woman maximum in just 60 days.  “We were floored,” Marchese said.  “Absolutely floored.”

Just as amazing as the numbers were some of the stories Marchese heard from competitors. The words of one survivor in her late 60s who did the bike leg as part of a relay team stood out in particular.  “She said to me, ’Julie, I was never so disappointed in my life as when I came back from that bike ride and knew that I was done. I wanted to keep going. My goal at 68 is to finish that race by myself,” Marchese said. “She said, ’I didn’t take care of myself after I had cancer. What was wrong with me? I’ve never felt better than I felt today.’”

As uplifting as that story was to Marchese, she hears others frequently that bother her those of women who aren’t taking the necessary steps to detect cancer early.  “I hate to hear stories from women who are 40 and haven’t had a mammogram and haven’t seen a doctor, or who are 50-something and haven’t had a colonoscopy,” she said. “It’s like, ’This is the biggest thing you have to take care of take care of it!’”

Marchese considers herself lucky.  Lucky that she’s cancer-free and lucky that she discovered triathlons as a way to get in shape and stay in shape, and also to help others battle cancer.  “Everybody had different ways in which they need to deal with cancer,” she said. “But it’s good to be able to deal with it in a good way, which would be exercise and watching what you eat and doing good things for yourself.”