Start Line Stories: Let’s Call It A Comeback

On June 10, 2018, Stephanie Ramirez completed her 18th marathon in Seattle. She arrived back home and shaded in the state of Washington on a map of the United States that tracked her goal of completing a marathon in all 50 states. Hawaii, California, New York and many others were filled in; nine states down and 41 to go.

Just one month later, the Stockton, CA resident was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer. Little did she know that during that marathon in Seattle, she was carrying a 7-centimeter tumor along with her. In a moment, Stephanie’s life took a drastic turn. Running was replaced with chemotherapy treatments, races were replaced with surgeries and for many months she could barely get out of her hospital bed.

“I almost died,” Stephanie said. “It was really bad… I knew something was wrong, for months, but no one could figure it out.”

After going undiagnosed for many months, it took Stephanie telling her doctor that her brother had found a tumor (which was successfully removed in April 2018) to consider looking into that option for her. The tumor was found and her treatment plan followed: 33 rounds of chemo and radiation. Stephanie lost 30 pounds and could no longer ingest food by mouth, walk, or even get out of the hospital bed. Her final surgery was on August 13, 2019.

Three years later, Stephanie is miraculously back to running again and is committed to the Eugene Marathon start line on Sunday, April 30 (in just 96 days!).

“I’ve wanted Eugene to be my comeback marathon for a long time,” said Stephanie, age 49. “My son was three when I ran my first marathon and he was there at the finish. He’s only been to two of my marathons in the past and I really wanted to have him there at my first one after cancer.”

Her son Armando is a graduating senior at the University of Oregon, where he plays saxophone in the marching band and studies journalism. Stephanie said she couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather have at the finish line than him. She also acknowledged how much more difficult it will be to get to the finish line this time around.

“Running is a lot harder now,” said Stephanie, who tries to balance work and home life with training and fits in her running on the weekends. “Dealing with the after-effects of cancer and the lingering effects of the surgeries and the chemo, it is so much more difficult than before.”

So why does she continue running?

“Because I’m alive,” Stephanie said. “I almost died, and the fact that I can get out of bed and walk is something I no longer take for granted.”

So now, whenever she can, she runs. And it reminds her why she started running in the first place: 18 years ago, when one of her mom’s best friends was running her final marathon at age 50 and asked Stephanie to train with her.

“I started running because a friend asked me to,” Stephanie said. “And now, after cancer, I run because I’m alive and I am truly blessed to continue my quest to run a marathon in all 50 states.”

Follow Stephanie’s journey to the start line (Instagram: @stephofstockton) and cheer her on come race day in Eugene when she’ll get the chance to check the beautiful state of Oregon off of her US map.