CrossFit saved my life

CrossFit saved my life- Jonathan Gengras

Yes, it is true and it’s not how you might think.  I was not morbidly obese or at risk for diabetes. I wasn’t a heart attack waiting to happen.

My wife introduced me to CrossFit Relentless and once I got the courage to go to the first class, It didn’t take long to realize that this was the only way I saw myself working out going forward.  I began to see changes in my strength immediately.  I started in early fall and that winter I could not believe how much better I felt on the ski slopes.  It was such a huge difference.  I was getting results and was not focused on just getting through the WOD but getting better. By the summer of 2011 I was feeling great but after a long August vacation and taking a few weeks off from Crossfit, I was definitely feeling the pain of my lazy summer days when I returned to CrossFit in the fall. I chalked it up to time off and thought nothing of it.  Heading into the winter I scaled back to 2 or 3 times a week and started to really plateau and even slide backwards in my strength and speed.  I decided it was because of my age, I had just hit 40, and I assumed that since I wasn’t going as often as before, that this must be the normal course of action as I get back into the full swing of working out. I felt strong but one 400 meter warm up run and I was totally out of breath.  Something was not right.  

It was March 2012 and I distinctly remember working on a three rep max power clean when I went for a lift and after I threw down the bar, I nearly fell over I was so dizzy.  My face was so red that Coach Merle asked if I was ok. 

Two weeks later I was in the Hospital.  I had been getting dizzy spells and feeling more short of breath when I finally visited the clinic on a Sunday.  They took a chest X-ray and the next thing I knew I was being rushed to Hartford Hospital.  They saw a large mass in my chest and thought it might be an enlarged artery that could explode. That would have killed me and thankfully it was not that.  After a CATSCAN it was quickly determined that I had a tumor the size of a softball in my chest, and the entire tumor was Cancerous.  The tumor had pushed aside and constricted my esophagus making it harder to breathe deeply and was pressing up against the veins that drain blood from the head causing the dizzy spells. The tumor had also wrapped itself around the Superior Vena Cava, the main vein that directs your most critical blood flow. Doctors were shocked at its size, the location and the fact that I hadn’t passed out sooner!

The next 36 hours were as scary as it gets.  What followed next was a long grueling process of biopsies, blood tests, petscans, catscans, and more blood work. We were stuck waiting to find out what type of Cancer and if and how it could be treated. Let’s just say I won the cancer lottery if there was one.  I had a mediastinum seminoma, otherwise known as a germ cell tumor.  The same cancer that Lance Armstrong had but mine was in the chest not the testicles and not the brain, Lance had it in all three locations.  It is a very treatable form of cancer and once we knew this, all energy was focused on crushing this thing.  Three months of Chemotherapy led to significant shrinkage of the tumor but not enough to rule out surgery to remove the remaining tumor.

 On June 28th I had a ten hour surgery at Sloan Kettering in New York to remove the residual tumor. The Chemotherapy had worked, and no other cancerous cells were discovered. 

Unfortunately the worst part was just beginning.  I spent ten days recovering at Sloan Kettering with 4 of them in the Intensive Care Unit. I was so weak and had so little lung capacity from the surgery that for the first few recover days all I could do was move from my bed to a chair next to my bed. I was grasping for air as if I had just finished Fran.  Slowly I began to gain strength, first by walking down the halls with a walker and then eventually on my own.  When I finally came home, I was restricted from lifting anything over 20 pounds for two months and slowly began a walking regimen.  

Two months after the surgery I was walking 2 miles, two months after that I was able to jog a mile albeit very slowly.  I knew I wanted to get back to CrossFit Relentless but I was more scared now then when I started.  I went to visit Coach Merle and Coach Glenn and they could not have been more helpful and supportive They mapped out a few WODS for me to ease my way back in and after a month back at the box, I started in on the regular WODS. I scale the hell out of them and I still can’t lift overhead but I feel myself getting stronger every week.  

I still have a long way to go. My doctor told me it might be 2 years before I am back to feeling as I did pre-treatment and surgery, but I am only one year in I am loving being back in the box. I know I will eventually get back to where I left off and then who knows how far I can go.  

If I had never started CrossFit, I know for sure I would not have noticed the shortness of breath as soon as I did. I only went to the clinic because I really started to feel the shortness of breath when exercising so who knows how long it would have taken to affect my day to day life. I can only imagine how the tumor would have presented itself at that point or if the cancer could have spread beyond my chest. According to my doctors, my fitness level going into this whole ordeal (I was no fire breather, I was at best a middle of the road festivus competitor) played a major role in my ability to handle my chemotherapy and recover from my surgery. The doctors could not believe that I was skiing in Utah the week before this was discovered. On several occasions, the doctors expressed to me their wonder on how on earth I could have had the strength to ski, let alone at high altitude out west. 

CrossFit saved my life.  At least that is what I believe.  It has also changed my life in so many ways for the better.  Merle and Glenn have become good friends. Both Coaches visited me in the hospital and it meant the world to me. Coach Merle did make me do some air squats in my hospital gown and quickly posted them on facebook for the world to see. But it didn’t’ bother me to put myself out there because if I can encourage one person to start CrossFit by seeing me in a hospital robe on Facebook, then maybe it’s one more person whose life will be changed or maybe even saved by Crossfit.