Princeton University Athletics
Karen Smyers: Running Brave
August 01, 2000 | General
Karen Smyers knew there was a problem when the radiologist kept her waiting last September.
The 1983 Princeton graduate had visited the doctor complaining of bronchitis and swollen glands. The bronchitis could be taken care of with antibiotics. The swollen glands were a different story.
"My primary care doctor said I should get an ultrasound just to be sure," Smyers recalls. "I did it just to keep him happy. That's when the big shock came. The radiologist kept me waiting, and when he came back he said: `We did find something ... I won't lie. It probably means you have cancer.'
"That was probably the scariest moment. I didn't know anything about it. Cancer was the last word I would have associated with me."
Smyers is a world-class triathlete who has been competing in the grueling races that combine swimming, biking and running since shortly after graduation. She planted the roots for the triathlon at Princeton by placing at the Eastern swimming championships and the Heptagonals track meet. But in the midst of her healthiest triathlon season in three years, one that would earn her the United States Olympic Committee's 1999 Female Triathlete of the Year, it struck.
It was thyroid cancer.
Smyers, 38, and husband and fellow triathlete Michael King found out as much as they could about it -- that thyroid cancer typically is slow growing and that the 10-year survival rate is 98%. Invasive surgery could remove much of the cancerous thyroid, and then radioactive iodine treatment would hopefully kill any remaining traces. As a thyroidectomy patient, Smyers would have to take a thyroid-replacement hormone daily for the remainder of her life.
Smyers, though, wasn't ready to accept the diagnosis. She believed that she inherited her mother's irregular thyroid and waited until after the final race of the 1999 season to have the diagnosis confirmed. Two days after crashing and breaking her collarbone when a cyclist fell directly in her path during the Ixtapa (Mexico) International Triathlon, Smyers had the confirming biopsy.
"I actually kind of rushed the surgery. I wanted to combine the rehab," she says of her December thyroidectomy. "I knew I couldn't really train for six to seven weeks with the collarbone [injury]. I was under the knife for six hours. For three weeks I was still feeling the effects of the anesthesia."
Smyers, world champion triathlete in 1990 and 1995, still required the final step, radioactive iodine treatment. It will have to wait because the 16-year triathlon veteran has a particularly big race in mind, the first ever Olympic triathlon this September in Sydney, Australia. To compete, Smyers has to qualify either at the Olympic trials in Sydney on April 16 or in Dallas on May 27-28.
"It was the scariest timing because I was supposed to be having the best training of my life with the Olympics coming up," Smyers says of the diagnosis. "I am surprised that it has been this big of a story. I find it very ironic that it's nothing I did. I didn't get anything much for the Ironman and world championships."
She kept the confirmation quiet originally because she had gotten so much attention for her other recent injuries: a severed hamstring in the summer of 1997, a Cesarean section in May 1998 to deliver her only child (Jenna) and broken ribs, a lung contusion and third-degree shoulder separation when she was hit by a semi-truck three months later. News of her cancer got out eventually.
"I've gotten e-mails from various alums, mostly people who follow the sport. It's kind of a good thing. It's a good way of keeping in touch with people," Smyers jokes.
"I don't know any triathlete who's been such a maidenhead for the sport," says Princeton women's track and field coach Peter Farrell. "She's been a triathlete who's been involved for 15 years in doing it and helping promote it. She's one of the fresh breaths you'll ever meet. Here's her shot at the Olympic trials and this happens. I feel for her."
Smyers' doctor reassured her that there is no increased risk from delaying the radioactive iodine treatment because of the slow-growing nature of thyroid cancer. American cyclist Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor who won the Tour de France, and Canadian rower Emma Robinson, who overcame thyroid cancer to set a world record, are inspirational.
"I'm lucky I don't have terrible cancer," Smyers says now. "I'm grateful that enough people have had it before and they know how to treat it. People say I've had so much bad luck, but I feel grateful."
Closer to home for Smyers is Scott Carlson, a friend who used to train for triathlons with her and King. Carlson's positive outlook after being diagnosed with fatal ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, changed her perspective the most.
"He's basically physically deteriorating. I learned a lot from how he's handling it. He has an incredible attitude. Even in Hawaii [at the Ironman Triathlon where Smyers took second], when I thought I might have thyroid cancer, it was in the back of my mind watching him, watching a guy who was never going to be able to do it again. I usually have thoughts of quitting, but not this time."
Smyers' collarbone caused the biggest problems when she resumed light training the first week of January. It took hours of physical therapy to regain her range of motion. By early March, Smyers was feeling good about her training.
"I've made incredible progress," she says. "I just had my highest swim week since college swimming. I've had no physical limitations. Weekly, I'm doing about four bike rides a week, about 150 miles a week. I'm running anywhere from 30 to 40 miles a week, and I'm swimming 20,000 to 25,000 yards a week. That's not a lot for many people, but that's a lot for me."
Smyers, ranked 34th in the world in 1999, has two shots to qualify for the Olympic triathlon. The trials in Sydney are by invitation only, and Smyers is one of the nine American women competing for one spot. She expects another 25 Americans to compete for the second and third American berths at the Dallas trials.
"I think Sydney might be pushing it a little bit," Smyers says. "I think if I can get myself in position, I can get it. I'm keeping it in the back of my mind that I've got six weeks after that until Dallas if I need it. I might need it. Sometimes I do better under pressure."
Smyers expects to have radioactive iodine treatment soon after the Dallas trials. It will limit her training for three to four weeks, but then she expects to resume training full tilt for the Olympics.
"It's got to be the pinnacle really," says Smyers. "There's no other event like it. The Ironman is a very cool event, but it's just another triathlon in the scheme of things. People that don't watch the triathlon watch the Olympics. It would be an incredible honor. I never got into the triathlon to go to the Olympics. If I don't make the Olympic team, it's not like the last 15 years will have been a waste. If I don't make it, I'll do the world championships. I'm looking at it like a win-win situation."
by Justin Feil