#Summit County, Colorado.
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| Jessica Smith / jsmith@summitdaily.com |
“I will never forget the day the radiologist came in and said I have cancer.”
Like many others who have dealt with a sudden and terrifying disease, Erin Monroe clearly remembers the moment when a diagnosis changed her life.
Three years ago, she was shocked to learn that, as a healthy and athletic 27-year-old with no family history, she had breast cancer.
“It was a complete surprise,” she said.
Less than a year prior, Monroe had moved from her home state of California to Breckenridge. Little did she realize at the time how Summit County, Colorado and an event called “Romp to Stomp” would shape her, her battle and her mindset over the next few years.
SUPPORT SYSTEM
Monroe completed her first year of treatment in California, flying back and forth between the hospital and Colorado.
“It was difficult being away from my loved ones in Colorado when I was in California, and it was also difficult being away from my family and my childhood friends that are a huge support system for me in California when I was in Colorado,” she said. “So it was definitely a hard balancing act.”
Monroe fought to gain equilibrium both physically and emotionally. An athlete since the age of 5, she threw herself into physical pursuits, from snowboarding to yoga, making the most out of living in the High Country.
She also drew around her a web of supportive friends and family members, who made sure she didn’t have to walk the difficult path alone. It stretched across two states and kept her steady. She calls them her “co-survivors.”
“Cancer’s not something that can be beat solo,” Monroe said.
The emotional and the physical came together one day in the spring of 2012, right after Monroe’s treatment had begun. Her sister, Ally, who had also moved to Breckenridge, was the one who first learned about the Romp.
ROMP TO STOMP
The Tubbs Romp to Stomp Out Breast Cancer is a snowshoe walk/run that raises money forSusan G. Komen for the Cure, a national breast cancer research organization.
The event will celebrate its 13th year in Frisco this Saturday, March 7. In addition to a 3K walk, a 5K walk, a timed 3K race and a Li’l Romper Dash for children, the Romp to Stomp is a chance to celebrate those who have survived breast cancer, or are fighting to survive, and to remember those who have passed away.
The Summit County event is the only Romp to Stomp in Colorado, and one of only three others in North America — Vermont, Washington and Ontario. Nationally, the event raised $218,000 with 4,206 participants. Of that, Frisco featured 1,926 participants last year and raised $65,300. While the cumulative total of all events nationally is $2.8 million in 12 years, Summit County has accounted for more than $1 million of that figure.
“We’ve got to do it,” Monroe remembers her sister telling her about the Romp. That first year, they had nine team members.
Monroe hasn’t missed a Romp event since then. This year, her team has swelled to 27 members — a mix of family, friends and friends of friends.
“I have people on my team that I haven’t even met yet,” she said with a laugh. “I’m going to meet them on race day.”
She has people flying out from California and driving in from Denver, where she lives now as an acquisitions manager for 9News.
The Romp is the one time a year that she straps on snowshoes.
“Colorado keeps me healthy; the Romp defines that,” she said. “To be able to just throw on snow clothes with your friends and just walk through the snow and share the experience with your friends and family and strangers, and see the other teams and see their funny costumes and how they embrace it. … There’s just no other feeling like that.”
While she runs competitively in events like the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Denver, the Romp is a time to relax, spend time with friends and take in the beauty of Summit County.
“It is something so much more intimate than a huge, large race,” she said.
MOVING FORWARD
Monroe is currently three years in to her five-year treatment plan. It’s going well, she says, and she’s learned a lot from dealing with her illness.
“I wanted instant gratification in the beginning. Patience isn’t something that, at the time, was a very good quality that I had,” she said.
As one of her nurses told her: “The thing you have to realize about cancer is it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
“Cancer taught me to be patient and has taught me more about acceptance and accepting the fact that I have a disease, that I didn’t ask for this disease, that it’s something I didn’t want, and acceptance is throwing away the fear, throwing away the anger,” she said.
She’s managed to do that through her athletic internal focus and through the relationships of family and friends. Her advice to others struggling with cancer is to “find a release, and find a way to lean on people, because cancer cannot be beaten with just yourself. It takes an army to beat it.”
The Romp to Stomp is just one example of others’ ongoing support.
“It’s awesome validation, too, that we’re all human,” she said. “We’re all human beings with hearts.”
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.
