Lying on her back, barely able to move as radiation pumped into her body to combat the cancer ravaging her left breast, Melissa Mulreany made herself a promise three years ago: She would become a triathlete.
“I kept telling myself I was going to survive,” she said. “I don?t have control over a lot of things, but I can be proactive about what I do in my life. I wanted to do something different, something I never thought I could do. So I just decided I was going to train to do a triathlon. I was going to take control of my life.”
And take control she has. On Sunday, Mulreany, a Columbia resident, mother of two and wife of 28 years, fulfilled that pact for the fourth time: She completed a triathlon, a race consisting of swimming, biking and running various distances.
In Sunday?s Iron Girl Columbia Women?s Triathlon in Ellicott City, she endured a nearly three-hour journey though the lukewarm water of Centennial Lake and along more than 20 miles of Ellicott City pavement. But to Mulreany, spending a cool, brisk morning swimming 0.62 miles, biking 17.5 and running 3.4 alongside more than 2,200 competitors wasn?t about sports.
It was about seizing control of the life she came close to losing after being diagnosed withadvanced breast cancer.
“Having cancer transformed my life,” said Mulreany, 54. “It was a wake-up call for me. I decided to live my life to the fullest ever since that day.”
Mulreany will never forget Oct. 31, 2003, the day she saw the rash on her left breast for the first time.
“I just knew it wasn?t good,” Mulreany said. “There was absolutely no doubt in my mind.”
Doctors confirmed her fears a week later. She was diagnosed with Stage III inflammatory breast cancer, one step away from often-fatal Stage IV, when the cancer has spread throughout the body.
Mulreany was determined not to become a statistic.
A few days after being diagnosed with cancer, she underwent her first round of a four-month chemotherapy cycle. It turned a once strong, healthy woman who never smoked a cigarette and rarely consumed alcohol into a frail one who at times could not muster enough strength to get out of bed. She vomited. She took six kinds of medicines daily. Mulreany, a dentist who owns a successful private practice in Burtonsville with her husband, Stuart Prymas, lost her independence.
“But I wasn?t going to let the cancer make me lose my hair,” Mulreany said. “So one day in the family room, we all got together, and my son used his shears to shave my head, and my husband used a razor to get rid of my hair completely.”
Mulreany?s daughter, Stephanie Prymas, 24, said she felt helpless.
“My mom is my best friend, and there was nothing I could do to help her,” she said. “That was the toughest part.”
After undergoing a double mastectomy in March 2004 to prevent the 2-centimeter-wide tumor from spreading, Mulreany began a six-week radiation cycle, putting the cancer into remission.
“I realized that life is not a dress rehearsal,” she said. “I was going to make the most out of my life and be as healthy and strong as possible.”
When she began training for the 2005 Columbia Triathlon, Mulreany never had walked even three miles in a day. She began by spending mornings walking with her friends at The Mall in Columbia. A few months later, she joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society?s Team In Training, which provides endurance training for those who raise money for cancer treatment.
“One day, I opened my mailbox and there was a postcard from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society telling me about Team In Training, and it was like a sign of fate,” she said. “After that, I had to do it. In eight months ? and I guess ignorance is bliss ? I was going to finish the Columbia Triathlon. I needed to challenge myself.”
Team In Training started in 1988 when Bruce Cleveland of Rye, N.Y., formed a 38-member squad that raised $322,000 in donations by running the New York City Marathon in honor of his daughter, Georgia, who survived leukemia. With more than 300,000 members worldwide, Team In Training is the world?s largest endurance sports program. It has raised more than $700 million by teaching members how to complete half-marathons, marathons, ultra-marathons and triathlons.
Mulreany used the six-day-a-week race preparation plan created by Team In Training to condition her body for the grueling race. She started slowly ? 30 minutes pedaling on a stationary bike or swimming for 30 minutes ? and, as she built up strength, began practicing with Team In Training, led by coach Patti Harden.
“I could see by her training how much she wanted to prove to herself that she could finish a triathlon,” Stuart Prymas said.
In May 2005, Mulreany accomplished her goal by completing the Columbia Triathlon in about five hours. She didn?t mind being the last competitor to cross the finish line after swimming 1.5 kilometers, biking 41 and running 10. Family and friends embraced her immediately as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I didn?t care if I had to roll or crawl ? I was determined to finish,” she said. “Behind giving birth to my children and getting married, it was the happiest day of my life.”
It also impressed her family.
“To tell you the truth, I never saw my mom as an athlete,” said Mulreany?s son, Michael Prymas, 26. “She was always just my mom who loved us. To see someone who was never into sports do something as extreme as triathlon was amazing. When she was going through cancer, we never talked about her the bad things that could happen, but it was on our minds.”
After training for the 2006 Columbia Triathlon, Mulreany had to withdraw because of a broken foot suffered just days before the race. But she completed the inaugural Iron Girl Triathlon a few months later and finished the Columbia Triathlon last May. On Sunday, Mulreany finished 1,559th overall in two hours, 50 minutes and 12 seconds, as she said she struggled on the biking leg, which took her 1:30:38.
“If I can do better on the bike, I can get my time under 2 1/2 hours,” she said. “But I can?t complain. I had the race of my life. I was surprised when I saw my time.”
Rebeccah Wassner, 32, won the race in 1:21:08, with 27-year-old Pip Taylor (1:22:55) placing second and 42-year-old Laurie Hug (1:29:32) third.
“[Melissa?s] what this race is all about because she?s such an inspiration,” said Team In Training teammate Penny Thompson, a 47-year-old Ellicott City resident who competed in Sunday?s race. When her daughter looks at Mulreany, Thompson says, “She sees someone who has overcome so much and is very physically fit and can accomplish whatever she wants to do. She?s just a fantastic person.”
But Mulreany is happy she finished, which three years ago appeared impossible. Mulreany said she has never felt better, even though she still visits a cancer specialist every three months to make sure the disease is in remission.
“I look at her now, and she?s a totally different person,” said her daughter, Stephanie. “I don?t even recognize her. The whole time she went through cancer she never worried about it, no ?why me?? because no one deserves to go through what she went through. To see her finish triathlons now is a symbol of how far she?s come to get her life back.”
Though the number of deaths has steadily decreased since 1990, breast cancer is second among cancer deaths in women, trailing only lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
Estimated Cancer deaths for women in 2007
All: 270,100
1. Lung: 70,880
2. Breast: 40,460
3. Genital: 28,020
4. Colon: 26,180
5. Pancreas: 16,530
Estimated cases of breast cancer by state
1. California: 19,790
2. New York: 12,580
3. Texas: 12,120
4. Florida: 11,710
5. Pennsylvania: 8,860
11. Virginia: 4,570
17. Maryland: 3,560
50. District of Columbia, 320
Source: American Cancer Society
