Apr 13, 2008 11:23 pm US/Central
Women Fighting Cancer 1 Workout At A Time
(WCCO)
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Earlier this year, Rahn opened Survivors Studio, a place where cancer survivors don't feel different.
CBS
When you think of places to exercise, the usual health clubs or gyms might come to mind. But if you have cancer, you might not be comfortable there; you might need to go slow while the rest of the class is going full speed.
So inside a White Bear Lake office park
something special is happening. Wendy Rahn is helping women fight cancer.
On this particular day, she's teaching a bone-building class.
"I like to think of it as a support group that moves," she said. Almost everyone in this class knows the disease too well. They've either fought it, or they're fighting it now.
Rahn starts the class with a brief lecture. She covers the importance of bone health, including the different between osteoblasts and osteoclasts.
If she seems a bit like a teacher, there's good reason. Rahn is on a research leave from the University of Minnesota where she's a political science professor.
Her journey from classroom to workout studio began in 2006 when Rahn "put on a swimming suit and felt something strange." A mammogram found nothing but three months later she pushed for a biopsy.
"I want to know what it is, and kind of I want to get rid of it because I'm always touching it, and that looks kind of weird," she said with a laugh.
The results of the biopsy were no laughing matter. Rahn had breast cancer and a variety that was likely to recur.
"I was actually completely shocked, as was my surgeon, when it came back cancer," she recalled.
After a mastectomy and reconstruction, Rahn was surviving but not thriving.
"I fell into a really big depression," she said. "So I walked around Target a lot, spent a lot of money at Target, that was what I would do … and as I was doing this I said, 'This can't go on forever, how do I get out of this?'"
Remembering research she'd read about exercise, cancer and moods, she decided to start working out.
"Two months later, I was just like a new person," said Rahn. "I thought, 'Gosh, this is amazing,' and I just got real interested in letting other women in on the secret."
The research isn't a secret, but Rahn said it's hard to find unless you know what to look for. That's why she started a Web site, Survivors' Training.org. It lists study after study, and the research findings show how regular exercise improves a woman's chances of fighting cancer and its recurrence.
Rahn thinks doctors should tell their patients about the studies and prescribe exercise as part of treatment plans.
"I don't know how many women I have talked to in breast cancer support groups who don't know anything about what the research says about exercise," she said.
Earlier this year, Rahn opened Survivors Studio. The cost for a six-month membership at Survivors' Studio is $250. A one-year membership is $450. Women can also pay to attend individual classes. The gym is a place where cancer survivors don't feel different.
"Everybody here 'gets it'," she said. "All the women that you're working with, 'get it.'"
Today was Sheilah Hurley's first day at the gym. She's battled colon and breast cancers. If exercise will help keep her well, she'll gladly do it.
"Part of it's just plain old survival," said Hurley. "I want to increase my chances." She's also here for another reason: exercise feels good.
"I want to feel better," said Hurley. "It's a motivator, unlike any other I've ever had in my life."
Survivors' Studio might not have the all the stuff you'll find at a big name gym. For women with cancer, it offers something more -- people who know where you're going through.
"It's a community," said Rahn. "It really is."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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