LAUREL'S SONG
Rookie triathlete leaves cancer behind
10/8/04 By
MARK PATTON NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER
 Laurel
O'Connor arose to the morning of the Santa Barbara County
Triathlon the same way she'd faced all her other trials
the last year.
"I put on my breast cancer theme song,"
she said, referring to an old tune by the New Radicals.
"I'd played it before every one of my procedures."
Wake up kids
We've got the dreamers disease
O'Connor, a 39-year-old mother of two, had undergone her
third operation just 2 months earlier. She faces one last
reconstructive surgery next week.
But still, a strange feeling of invincibility overwhelmed
her as she headed for East Beach for the women's sprint
triathlon. "I felt like I was sending a message to my
cancer that day, that I am strong," she said. "That I'm
stronger now than I've ever been."
That was a long way from the day of her masectomy in July
of 2003, and from her first reconstructive surgery in January,
when she'd question how this could be happening to her.
Although the cancer is gone, there's a 25 percent chance
it will return. "I'd eaten organically, I'd breast-fed
my kids -- I had done all the right things," she said. "I
was always into fitness."
But while it was difficult for her to understand, it was
even tougher trying to explain it to her 7-year-old daughter,
Stevie. "We just decided to tell her the straight, simple
truth," O'Connor said. "We felt that was important, although
it was obviously a difficult year for her, and for my husband
Matt. But he's been so supportive through this whole thing,
it's amazing."
Their 3-year-old son, Quinn, soon figured it out, as well.
He saw someone in a cast and told him, "My mommy has an
owie, too."
"He reached over and tried to pull up my shirt to show
him," said O'Connor.
It was one of the few times she's been able to laugh about
it. "By January," O'Connor conceded, "I had kind of
reached a low."
A few fellow mothers at Vieja Valley School took notice,
suggesting that she join Momentum 4 Life and train for the
triathlon.
First we run and then we laugh till we cry
But when the night is falling
And you cannot find the light
If you feel your dream is dying
Hold tight
Momentum's Dawn Schroeder vividly remembers O'Connor's
first phone call: "She said, 'I'm pretty athletic, but I'm
going to have surgery toward the middle part of the training
. . . Do you think I can do this?' "
Schroeder's answer was yes. And from that point on, O'Connor
was being urged on by more than a hundred training partners.
Several of them even pitched in a few hundred dollars for
a gift certificate so she'd get a few breaks from cooking
dinner.
"I was embraced by women who didn't even know me," she
said.
This world is gonna pull through
Don't give up
You've got a reason to live
Can't forget you only get what you give
"She started
right away in our early conditioning program," said Schroeder.
"She got into such good shape that she knew she'd be able
to come back from her surgery."
And while sidelined, Schroeder asked O'Connor to tell
her story to the group. "I'm an emotional person, anyway,
and I've never been confident speaking before people," said
O'Connor, who had to lean against Schroeder during her talk.
"But you know, cancer has gotten me off my plateau, and
has made me willing to take risks to do new things. I have
nothing to lose now."
Schroeder was amazed when O'Connor resumed training in
July: "She really came back with a vengeance. I'm not kidding."
This whole damn world can fall apart
You'll be OK follow your heart
O'Connor was most worried about the first leg of the triathlon
-- a 500-yard ocean swim.
"There's that shock of all those bodies next to you, and
of getting kicked," she said.
She was in 44th place by the time she emerged from the
water. But she became emboldened as the race continued with
a six-mile bike ride, and then a two-mile run.
"The cancer felt like my competitor that day," O'Connor
said. "I felt like I was telling it, 'I'm stronger than
you.' "
She picked off runner after runner as she sprinted through
Chase Palm Park, gaining strength with each woman she passed.
You're in harm's way
I'm right behind
Now say you're mine
O'Connor covered the final two miles in a blistering 14:23,
moving all the way up to seventh place. She was shocked
to learn that she had placed second in her age group with
an overall time of 45:42. "I was hoping to place in
the top 20," she said. "But I felt strong and excited. I
was pretty inspired that morning."
O'Connor will be back on track Sunday, taking part in
the Cancer Center's 5K Walk & 10K Run at Montecito Union
School. "I've been looking for pledges, to raise money
for their cause," she said. "It's a chance to give something
back to them."
And be assured that Laurel O'Connor's favorite song will
be blaring on the CD player.
Fly high
What's real can't die
You only get what you give.
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