Kick cancer to the curb

When Natalie Lambrou and Ingrid Jacobus were both given the all-clear after undergoing extensive chemotherapy and radiation treatment, a group of women from the boot camp dressed themselves up in pretty pink nail polish and pink cancer awareness ribbons to raise awareness of the disease that still claims thousands of women’s lives each year.

Jacobus, a mother of three, was diagnosed with cervical cancer earlier this year. Her treatment, which involved two forms of radiation and chemotherapy, lasted six weeks, and was further complicated by the autoimmune disease, scleroderma. Lambrou’s breast cancer diagnosis came last year, just days after she found a lump in her breast. Throughout her ordeal of undergoing bilateral mastectomy surgery and extensive chemotherapy, Lambrou said previous experience with her husband’s cancer gave her the ability to take the long journey one step at a time.

The experience of undergoing invasive and draining treatment, vividly revealed to both ladies and their fellow boot camp members the importance of physical health and fitness, as well as an active lifestyle, for a quick and successful recovery. In the wake of the good news, and in celebration of life, the boot camp group showed the solidarity, friendship and support that played such a positive role in the recoveries of Lambrou and Jacobus, and their return to health.