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Hodgkin Lymphoma Patient Can Attest to the Power of a Healthy Lifestyle

Sharon  Sander

According to Dr. Lyons, “Sharon’s athletic endeavors and mental strength made her better able to tolerate the medication and their side effects.”

Sharon Sander
Hodgkin Lymphoma

Hodgkin lymphoma patient Sharon Sander can attest to the power of a healthy lifestyle as a triathlon athlete and coach. Her passion for athleticism dates back to her college days in California when she explored everything from running, swimming, and biking to horseback riding, shooting, and even fencing. She discovered she was good at all of it.

In 1990, her newfound passion became her purpose when she was recruited from college to join the World Pentathlon Team in San Antonio where she built a life and career for the next 12 years. After retiring from pentathlons in 2002, she founded her own triathlon team and began coaching. Because of her physically active profession, Sharon never went to the doctor until she began waking up with a scarily high resting heart rate. For months Sharon signed up for races thinking she’d eventually feel better, but would have to drop out while doctors tried to identify what was wrong.

Eventually a swollen lymph node in her neck led to the detection of Hodgkin lymphoma and surgery. A friend recommended Sharon see Dr. Roger Lyons of Texas Oncology–San Antonio Medical Center. In November 2018 Sharon began a chemotherapy regimen of eight treatments every other week until she rang the bell celebrating her last infusion on Valentine’s Day 2019.

Before cancer, Sharon’s 30- to 40-hour per week training regimen had been like a full-time job until she started to feel ill. After the first chemotherapy infusion, she says her heart rate immediately declined while her energy increased – seemingly overnight. Coupled with Dr. Lyons’ professionalism and to-the-point plan, she began feeling better. Throughout treatment, she continued a training program that included swimming, running, and completing yoga sessions (albeit online so as not to compromise her immune system) multiple times per week.

Sharon is a firm believer that her healthy lifestyle helped her through treatment and into recovery. Her physician, Dr. Lyons, agrees noting that Sharon’s athleticism helped her tolerate treatment side effects. According to Dr. Lyons, “Sharon’s athletic endeavors and mental strength made her better able to tolerate the medication and their side effects.”

Only one year later, Sharon completed her treatment and preparation for her first race since being diagnosed with cancer, the annual Texas State Sprint Triathlon. Training for months, she strengthened her body by biking more than 75 miles, running 30 miles, and swimming more than 10,000 yards each week. Through hard work and determination, Sharon placed first in her age group of females aged 55-59 in the 20th anniversary event held at San Marcos’ Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, which included 400 meters of swimming, 12 miles of biking and 3 miles of running. In addition to the importance of healthy habits, Sharon learned that she wants to share her story so her experience can aid others who are surprised by a cancer diagnosis.

An exercise program combined with strong determination can also help others tolerate their treatments, leading to a better chance of a positive long-term outcome.

The information included in this testimonial is based on one patient’s unique experience and is not intended to represent all patient outcomes or expectations.