Raising awareness about lung diseases is motivating one former Olds resident to run in the Chicago Marathon this fall.
Jennifer Jackson, 26, who grew up and attended school in Olds, will be running in the event on Oct. 13. Diagnosed with sarcoidosis in the autumn of 2009, Jackson has been training for the marathon since last fall, when she ran her first half-marathon at the Scotiabank Toronto Marathon in October.
An autoimmune disease with no known cause or cure, sarcoidosis can target almost any part of the body and affects different people in different ways.
For Jackson, the disease affected her lung function.
“I think one of the hardest things was actually believing that (my friends and I) could do it. Having lung disease does make things a challenge and we sometimes have to go about (training) differently than maybe people who don't,” she said. “Especially for a marathon, part of it is convincing yourself that you can do it.”
Jackson said after she was first diagnosed with sarcoidosis, running was suggested as a way to build up lung capacity.
She said she came home after working a shift as an intensive care nurse in 2009 and felt tired. After sleeping, she woke up the next morning with severe chest pain and went to the hospital.
She was initially hospitalized for eight days and then returned to the hospital regularly for different tests for the next six weeks, before a biopsy determined she had sarcoidosis.
After diagnosis, she received chemotherapy treatments to kill white blood cells, which were attacking her healthy lungs.
“(Running) has been a big part of my recovery. Myself and some friends decided that we wanted to run the Chicago Marathon to raise money for the Canadian Lung Association. It's been an evolving process over the last couple years as I've done more running and we just felt that this was the year (to run a marathon),” she said.
Jackson said her friends were a huge part of her support network and one of the reasons she started running.
“My friends were really instrumental in encouraging me to begin running and then from there, we just kind of kept upping the ante. We started running five (kilometre) races and then it became 10 and last year we did our first half-marathon, and this year we said, ‘It's time to do something big,'” she said.
There are five members of Jackson's Two Iron Lungs running team, each of who will be running the entire 42-kilometre marathon.
Another member of the team, Allison Mackinnon, has asthma. All are training together – running five times per week, doing Pilates three times per week, practising yoga and training with weights – in order to prepare for the race. There are two team members from Alberta, as well as members from the Atlantic provinces and Ontario. Jackson resides in Ottawa.
“It is a very involved process because it is a very high-level event,” Jackson said.
In addition to raising awareness and funds for the Canadian Lung Association, the team hopes to prove that people with lung disease aren't limited in what they can accomplish.
“We don't have goal times. Our hope is to finish and be successful,” she said.
The team has raised about $1,500 so far, and hopes to top the $5,000 mark by race day. For those wanting to contribute, the team has a website at www.2ironlungs.com where pledges can be made. The team is also selling T-shirts as part of the effort.
