The program helps cancer survivors exercise and learn how to make healthy choices that best fit their needs.
View full sizeFrom left, Sharon Morin and her daughter, Michelle Wilkinson, both breast cancer survivors, talk with YMCA health and wellness supervisor Maggie Triolo after their workout. Morin and Wilkinson have participated in the YMCA LiveStrong Program, a 12-week fitness training for survivors. Triolo is head trainer of the program.
Syracuse, NY -- After surgery for breast cancer, Sharon Morin couldn’t lift her left arm because a nerve has been clipped. “It was a pain, piercing pain all the time,” said Morin, who spent afternoons with the arm slumped at her side while watching television.
Two years later, her arm was still aching, but she found help when she joined the YMCA of Greater Syracuse’s Strive and Thrive Program, a 12-week fitness course for cancer survivors. Since October 2009, the program has helped nearly 100 cancer survivors get fit and make friends.
“I had never even been on a treadmill before,” said Morin, 62, of North Syracuse. “So I wanted to try everything. Everyone else was on board with that, too, that way we didn’t get bored. We did yoga, Zumba, everything they had to offer.”
By the end of the program, she could lift at least four pounds with her left arm without feeling pain. “I didn’t realize how much a little exercise helps. In four weeks, I could put the barbell well over my head. It was an awesome experience,” said Morin, who finished the program in May.
While helping cancer survivors exercise, the program also aims to teach people how to make healthy choices that best fit their needs. “It’s not just about the organization, it’s more about what we can do for each cancer survivor and how we can really individualize it,” said Barb Moul, an intake coordinator for the Strive and Thrive fitness program.
She talks with each cancer survivor in the program about their medical history, health goals and which YMCA programs best match these goals. She also helps some survivors receive financial aid for programs and YMCA memberships for their families.
For Steve Sallis, 57, a prostate cancer survivor, it’s this kind of support that helped him get physically fit. Before joining the program, Sallis, who was overweight, lost 140 pounds but didn’t know how properly to use gym machines, to lift free-weights or to get the most from his workout.
View full sizeSteve Sallis of North Syracuse, now a member of the North Area Family YMCA, works out on a regular basis there after completing a 12-week program for cancer survivors. Livestrong at the YMCA, a program offered at select YMCAs across the country, is a collaboration between the YMCA and The Lance Armstrong Foundation that aims to build strength, endurance and improve overall well being for cancer survivors.
“When I was just losing the weight, I didn’t have any instruction in building muscle and getting in shape. I weighed a lot less, but my body was no more physically fit than it was when I was overweight,” Sallis said.
From learning water aquatics to trying yoga for the first time, he credits his change in fitness to supportive YMCA staff such as Maggie Triolo. Instead of repeating the same workouts, Triolo encouraged him to try new exercises, to run longer distances on the treadmill or to pump heavier weights than he did the week before.
“She would tell you to be your own judge of your limits, but she would always tell you to push yourself to the limit because that’s where you get the most benefits,” Sallis said. After finishing the program, Sallis understood how to stay in shape. He said classes on nutrition and cancer prevention taught him how to live a healthy life long after cancer recovery.
Yet, learning how to stay fit was only half the fun for Sallis. On some weeks, he met with survivors from class to talk about their experiences with cancer, their hobbies or pastimes.
The YMCA offers the program at its North Syracuse, East Area Family YMCA, and Downtown Syracuse branches.
Morin, of North Syracuse, says staying active each week made the biggest difference in her health and happiness. “It got me out of the house, it got me motivated, I met a lot of great friends,” Morin said. “It totally changed my outlook on life.”
Contact Lyndra Vassar at 470-2259 or lvassar@syracuse.com.