Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Overcoming Pancreatic Cancer and Taking Life to New Heights w/Sindy Hooper EP 10

Episode Date: March 16, 2021

The purpose of today's show is to bring awareness to pancreatic cancer survival. In today’s show, John interviews Sindy Hooper about overcoming pancreatic cancer survivor and competing as an Ironman Triathlete. Sindy shares with us her incredible story of grit, hope, and finding success in extreme adversity.  Back in 2013, things could not have been better for Sindy. She was leading a happy existence with her physician husband at their countryside home. Sindy had just turned 50 and was in the best shape of her life. A huge fitness enthusiast, Sindy was training for Ironman Canada when she felt a few sharp abdominal and back pains. Further investigations revealed that she had pancreatic cancer – a disease with an average life expectancy of just 6 months.  After going through Whipple surgery where “they removed her gall bladder, bile duct, duodenum, bottom third of stomach and half the pancreas,” Sindy went through 18 rounds of IV chemo, 28 days of radiation, and a month of oral chemo. While she was going through her treatment, she decided to do what any rational person would. Sindy decided to participate in Ironman Canada!  The Ironman features a 3.9 km swim,180 km bike ride, and then a 42 km marathon, to put things in perspective. So, in August 2013, Sindy became the only pancreatic cancer survivor to finish an Ironman. In the process, she also raised thousands of dollars and gave hope to millions worldwide. How do you retain a positive mindset even when your future looks bleak, and all odds are stacked against you? Tune in and get inspired! How Sindy survived pancreatic cancer – one of the deadliest forms of the disease with a less than 5% survival rate How she finished the Ironman while I was undergoing chemotherapy How she retained a positive mindset even when all odds were stacked against me What she recommends to other growth seekers in how to take control of their lives And so much more… Questions that I Ask In This Show What was your life like before the cancer diagnosis? Can you explain how they performed the Whipple surgery on you? Can you share how you completed Ironman Canada while you were undergoing chemotherapy? Do you think there can be a success without adversity? What advice do you have for overcoming adversity? How do you deal with negative emotions? How is your life different now compared to how it was before you started your journey? Resources [e-mail] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sinhoop/ Follow John R. Miles Here: Website - https://passionstruck.com/ ​Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passion_struck_life ​ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Johnrmiles.c0m ​ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Milesjohnr ​ Medium: https://medium.com/@JohnRMiles John's Website: https://johnrmiles.com/ - John's New eBook - The Passion Struck Framework https://passionstruck.com/coaching/

For other people, I think my advice would just be, you know, set a goal in what you want to achieve and stay focused, work hard, you know, anything that's really good in life, it's not going to come easy. It's, it's going to take hard work and you just have to be determined. And, and again, like we talked about before, keep the goals small and achievable, little steps to get you there, and just keep plugging away at it, believe that anything is possible.

Iron Man's model is anything is possible. Welcome to the Passion Struck Podcast. My name is John Miles, a former combat veteran and multi-industry CEO, turned entrepreneur and human performance expert. Each week we showcase an inspirational person or message that helps you unlock your hidden potential and unleash your creativity and leadership abilities. Thank you for joining us today on the show and let's get igniting. Welcome to the Passion Struck Podcast

today's episode an extremely personal one for me. Unfortunately in September of 2020 my younger sister was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and at that point I went on a world-line search for pancreatic cancer survivors and through that journey I met today's guest. You are in for such a treat with today's episode and I cannot wait to introduce you to Cindy Hooper. Cindy lives in Ottawa, Canada. She is a mom, wife, and traveling and has survived pancreatic cancer for eight years.

This amazing woman completed the Ironman Canada in the midst of chemotherapy treatment in 2013 and has since finished the Ironman Vitchie in France. The Ironman 70.3 world championships in South Africa, two ITU-Pratholone world championships in Mexico and Switzerland, the Boston Marathon, and if that wasn't enough, 50K Ultra. Cancer has brought a lot of fear and pain into her life, but it's brought a few huge gifts as well. A huge desire to give back and a love of life she never dreamt possible. In the last eight years, she has raised over $250,000 for cancer research at the Ottawa Hospital

by leading several running teams at Ottawa Race Weekend. You are absolutely going to love today's episode, and it is filled with so much inspiration, our joy, happiness, perseverance. I cannot wait for you to meet this amazing lady. Now, let's get igniting. get igniting. As I was researching the perfect quote for this episode, I ran across one by Francis of a CC who said,

you start by doing what's necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you're doing the impossible. And when you meet this guest today, you're gonna understand the importance of this message. I am thrilled today to have Sydney Hooper, who is passion struck about helping people live their fullest while she raises awareness for fundraising for pancreatic cancer. Welcome to the show, Cindy. How are you today? I'm very good. How are you doing?

I am doing good, and I'm so excited to have you here today. And I first met you when I was doing web research on pancreatic cancer. And your story was so inspirational because I was particularly looking for stories of survivors who have beat this deadly disease. And what you've done since your diagnosis has been truly amazing. The purpose of our show is to try to help others understand how they can unlock their hidden potential and ignite and prioritize their passion journeys,

but I wanted to start talking to you about, you know, what was your life like before the cancer diagnosis, and what was life like back eight, nine years ago? So I was diagnosed at the very beginning of 2013. And in 2012, the year leading up to that, my life was very full, especially with my husband and my two boys and our triathlon training that my husband and I did together. We had decided the year prior in 2011 that we would do our first Ironman together. So an Ironman is a

four-kilometer swim, a 180-kilometer bike ride, and then a marathon. And we decided that we wanted to try doing one and we chose an Ironman close to our home here. We live in Ottawa, Canada, and we chose Ironman, Mo and Trombla. So in 2012, we did a lot of training to prepare ourselves for that Ironman. It was a lot of fun. We did most of the training together with a great group of friends. And then in August of 2012, we went to Tromblons. My goal was to try to qualify for the Hawaii Air and Manoral Championships. And I had a really, really good race.

I met all my goals, but I missed qualifying by just two spots. Oh, wow. Yeah, it was a fantastic day. I was super happy with everything I achieved. And because I was so close to qualifying for Hawaii, I decided I'd like to try again. So a bunch of the people that had trained for Ironman and little Trombla,

immediately registered for another Ironman, the following summer. So that would be in August of 2013. And this time we decided to do the Ironman in Whistler, BC. So we register for this Ironman and I'm going through the fall training, continuing to train hard for this Ironman in 2013 and everything's going pretty well And in December, which would be my 50th birthday at the time, I started getting some weird things happening. I experienced pain in my upper abdomen,

upper middle abdomen, a couple of times, on a few other occasions I had some mid back pain. And then a few weeks later I started to have some GI symptoms like some diarrhea. I also just wasn't feeling very well starting to get very tired but you know it was around Christmas and you know we were busy and it's the flu season time so we didn't think too much of it and then around Christmas I started getting really itchy skin, and I remember it being so itchy and so crazy,

because I was actually scratching the palms of my hands and inside my ears. So very strange. We didn't know what was going on. And then on January 2nd, no, January 1st, I went for a run with my girlfriend. That was supposed to be just a really easy fun run and it was extremely difficult. I remember having to walk up just the slightest of inclines and stopping my garment. And I came home and told my husband about that and then slept for a couple of hours in

the middle of the day, which at the time was very unusual for me. So he was getting a little bit concerned about everything that was going on. And then the next morning when we woke up, which was January 2nd, he noticed that I had my eyes were jaundiced, so he could see the yellow discoloration in my eyes. And so with everything that was going on, he thought, perhaps I had gallstones. So he is a my husband is a physician at the Ottawa hospital. So he arranged for me to go in and get some blood work done. And an ultrasound to see what was going on. And that ultrasound unfortunately didn't reveal

unfortunately didn't reveal gallstones, it revealed pancreatic cancer. So when I was told, yeah, when I was told, first of all, they said, oh, you have a tumor on your pancreas. And as like, well, pancreas, I thought we were here for, you know, my gallbladder, and I was just very confused. And, you know, when they mentioned the word tumor, it didn't seem like that big a deal. It's like, oh, well, you know, my gallbladder and I was just very confused. And you know, when they mentioned the word tumor, it didn't seem like that big a deal. It's like, oh, well, you know, we'll just get rid of it. And I didn't really even know what the pancreas did. So I thought, couldn't be that important, right? So I guess the physician could tell that I was confused

and then she finally said, you know, you have pancreatic cancer to which, you know, that when you hear the word cancer, right, you really take notice, we were shocked, devastated. I mean, I was in the best shape of my life. I was only 50 years old, which is relatively young for this type of cancer. I don't have any family history whatsoever of cancer. I had none of the risk factors for pancreatic cancer. So this, somebody telling my husband and I

that I had pancreatic cancer was just devastating. And she left us alone for a few minutes, and I turned to John, and I said, pancreatic cancer, so is this a good one or a bad one to get? You know, we had other friends that had cancer, and some are better than others, right? And he said, it's a bad one.

It's a very, very bad one, and we just both started to cry. and it's a very, very bad one, and we just both started to cry. Yeah, I'm so sorry. You know, and I can't even imagine what you were experiencing. And as we've, you know, gotten to know each other, you know, the way my sister found out was not much different than the way you did.

She was very healthy, always had been a non-smoker, in very good shape, yoga, big runner, very, very active, and he had visited my parents and at the tail end of that visit felt a bit tired, but just thought she was coming down with a cold. And then, you know, over the next week to 10 days, just felt more and more tired and then had some of the same symptoms. You, you know, you brought up and went in.

And, you know, the doctors thought there was something going on with their bile duct. And so they went in to check that out. And when they did, they found pancreatic cancer in her as well. And very similar, she's 47 at the time. And like you had none of the, you know, I think people think about cancer and they think it's, you know, you're going to have precursors for it or it's going to, you know, to predatory or something, but she was exactly like you in great shape. No indication that this would happen.

They have no idea why it happened and then suddenly, you know, you walk in and your life is changed. So you get this terrible diagnosis and what was transpiring over the next days to the weeks in your mind about it? With pancreatic cancer, so the average survival for pancreatic cancer is only six months and 75% of people who get pancreatic cancer died within the first year. Those are the horrible stats. So the first concern was whether or not I was going to be eligible for surgery to remove

the tumor. So 75% of people that get pancreatic cancer are not eligible for surgery, and there isn't a chemotherapy that works, so that's why the statistics are so horrible. So our immediate concern was whether or not I was eligible for surgery. So the next day we went back into the hospital, they did a CT scan, and then, so that was on Thursday, and then the next day on Friday,

I went in to meet with a surgeon who had looked at the CT scan to determine whether or not surgery was gonna be viable. And thankfully, it was. And so I had surgery the next Monday. So about six days after my diagnosis, I was in the hospital for withal surgery. Yeah, and for those who aren't familiar because before I had heard about pancreatic cancer, I'd never heard about wipple surgery and it's not a simple surgery.

So can you explain what they have to do? So mine was, my surgery lasted seven and a half hours. They removed my gallbladder by all duct, half of my stomach and half of my pancreas, which is where the tumor was, as well as my entire duodenum. So it's a huge surgery, and the reason why they take out a lot of things other than the pancreas,

which is where the tumor is, is because the chance of the tumor going outside the pancreas is very high. And so that's why they take out such a large number of internal organs. So my surgery lasted seven and a half hours, and then I was in the hospital for 10 days. And the reason for the long hospital stay is because they're trying to manage pain and make sure that everything's working and I can eat and everything is going through okay. Right of course. So my hospital stay was very very

difficult. I had a lot of pain. My epidural that was supposed to be in for about four days failed after 24 hours, they put it in again and then it failed again. So we were left with trying to manage the pain from the surgery with narcotics and it turns out that I'm very sensitive to narcotics, we didn't know that. So, I had a lot of vomiting and seeing things halluc hallucinations nightmare. So it was extremely difficult, but I was discharged from the hospital after 10 days

and then came home and it was about six weeks, five weeks that I was on narcotics to keep trying to control the pain and just basically doing nothing. All right, so how long after the surgery, because I understand sometimes they'll do chemotherapy and then they do the surgery, and in your case they went in right away to the surgery and then you did chemotherapy afterwards. How long was that interval?

Well, chemo started six weeks after my surgery, so they wanted to wait until they felt I had recovered enough from the surgery to be able to start chemo. So my narcotics for pain medication ended at five weeks, so at six weeks they started chemotherapy. And so that was around mid-February and my chemotherapy went right through until mid September. And so you're in the middle of, the way I understood it was, you're in the middle of getting some of this chemotherapy treatment, and you come up with this idea

that you wanna do this Iron Man. How did that manifest itself? So as I mentioned before, I was already registered for the Iron Man right before I got sick. And the Iron Man is in Whistler, British Columbia, which is an area that I had never been to before, and I was really looking forward to traveling there. I was going with my husband and a big group of friends that were going to be doing the Iron Man with us. And we had rented a couple of beautiful shellAs in Whistler

and I was just really, really looking forward to the trip. However, I was also terrified that the cancer was going to come back and I wouldn't even live to six months. So there was this, I really, really hope that I'm going to live until August of 2013. But if I do, I really, really would love to be able to make the trip out to Whistler BC to see that area and make the trip with my friends. So that's kind of how it started, was that just became a goal to live that long and then if I did live that long to sort of celebrate it with the trip out to Whistler. And then as I got further into the chemo and further away from the surgery and started to do more walking and I would get on my bike trainer

in the basement and do some biking and then I was able to get back into the pool. So this was all happening sort of mid-march and then I was like, hmm, you know, if I can make the trip out to Whistler BC, if I'm still alive, maybe I could try to train and still take part in the Ironman. So I had a follow-up appointment with my surgeon, my husband. I can't even imagine what this conversation was like. Yeah, so I was starting to feel a little bit better. I was on my trainer. I was going out for walks. I was doing a bit of swimming and I said to my surgeon, so I'm registered for this Iron Man in August, and this is like mid-March.

And I'm starting to feel a lot better. Do you think it might be possible for me to take part in Iron Man Canada? And his reaction was, well Cindy, I don't even know why a healthy person would want to do that alone. Yeah. You're going to go through all this chemotherapy. I also had

a month of radiation, sort of mid-April to mid-May, so that was another factor. But, you know, he didn't say no, and so I took that as a let's just give it a try and see how it goes. So the plan was. Yeah, but I did want to ask you, did while you were going through this process, did anyone try to stop and discourage you from continuing or were you getting support along the way? So there is very good evidence that supports exercise during chemotherapy and radiation

and whatever else type of cancer treatments people might be going through. Training for an Iron Man is obviously, you know, a little bit beyond what those recommendations are. So what was happening behind the scenes, which I didn't really, wasn't really aware of, is that my husband, who's a physician, was speaking with my surgeon and my oncologist and my radiation therapist to make sure that any swimming biking and running that I was doing was safe. Our primary objective was to get me through all of my treatments without getting sick, without my immune system being compromised. So while I was

like just going along, doing all my training, and there definitely were conversations in the background, and John was watching to make sure that I was keeping it safe. So there were a couple of instances where we were out on long bike rides and I was getting tired and when I get tired, you know, I stopped eating and then I get a little bit grumpy and John noticed on a couple of rides that this was happening and he just said, Cindy, that's it you're done, you're not going any further. And a couple of times, like we were pretty far out you know from where we live you know we would be 75 kilometers out in the country and I say oh I can't stop now you know look at

where we are and he would just call one of my kids or a friend to come and pick me up in the car and so he I also had a coach at the time and so my husband John and my coach were both really watching what was going on. And certainly the amount of training that I was doing and the intensity of the training was completely different from what I had done the year before when I was healthy. So in 2012, when I was healthy training for Iron Man, Molle Tromblant, I was training about 14 to 18 hours a week with lots of high intensity stuff.

While I was going through chemotherapy and radiation, I was only training about 8 to 12 hours a week and everything was very low intensity, zone one, nice and easy easy just getting out there and putting it some kilometers. Well, and it's not like you don't pick easy for Apple on locations. Mount Treiblong, if you know those who haven't been, is a beautiful location that has mountains and ski resorts and whistlers or even has even higher altitude. So you're going into this doing a behemoth of a triathlon, not just none of them are easy, but this one had some other factors. So as you're going through this and you're doing your training, what were the,

you know, what were the hardest things that you had to overcome on a daily basis? So my chemotherapy routine was, I would go three weeks in a row and then have a week off of chemotherapy, three weeks in a row, have a week off. So the idea of the week off is it gives your time, time for your body to rebuild and restripe in. So every Friday, I would go for blood work. And that blood work, your white blood cells, red blood cells, all the blood work has to be at a certain level to make sure you're okay enough to go to chemotherapy and I would go on Mondays. So my blood work always came back with in acceptable ranges and I would go to my next chemotherapy on Monday.

So I would go Monday at noon and I'd feel okay. I went to most of my chemotherapy appointments on my own. I would drive there, get the chemotherapy, drive home. And by the evening when my husband came home, I would start to be extremely nauseous, like to the point where I'm laying on the couch with a bucket just waiting to be taken. Right. And then I was able, always able to fall asleep, okay?

That night. And then by Tuesday, I was still feeling pretty nauseous, but I could get outside, go for a walk or swim something easy. And then as the week progressed, I felt less and pretty nauseous, but I could get outside, go for a walk or swim something easy. And then as the week progressed, I felt less and less nauseated. So by Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I would be able to go out on my bike and do a bike ride and on the weekend.

And then it would start again. So one thing my chemotherapy doctor had said that I most likely wouldn't be able to get all 18 rounds of chemotherapy because it is very normal for blood levels to drop and then you have to miss one or two if not three, that would be completely normal. Right. But I was, I did all 18 rounds and she attributes that to the fact that I was very strong, healthy and strong going into the surgery and then very active through all of my treatments and so I was able to get them all.

So that's a really positive thing. The things that were the hardest, that was what your question was, the things that were the hardest were feeling like I wanted to be with my husband and my friends outside training through the summer because that's what I love to do. You know, some people like to guard in or read box, play cards, whatever. For me, I just love to swim, bike, and run.

So I wanted to be out there with them enjoying the summer and doing this training. And most of the time I was able to, I mean, there were times I wasn't, especially on the Mondays and Tuesdays. But even when I was out there, I couldn't do what I was able to do before, and that was really difficult. So it's hard, you know, when you're going through chemotherapy, you're trying to be careful to preserve energy. And at the same time, I was trying to, you know,

keep up with my friends with swimming, biking, and running. So there was this struggle of not pushing myself, but wanting to be out there enjoying. And then just, you know, the, you know, the nausea. I didn't have any other, there are other side effects of the chemotherapy I was on. I was on gym side of being and I would go in and a nurse would check to see if I had any mouth sores. I would say no, no mouth sores. She would actually make me open my mouth and look with a light. Some people get problems with their hands and feet.

I never had any of that either. So chemotherapy and radiation for me was a lot easier than what I went through with my surgery. My Whipple surgery was, I found it extremely difficult, extremely painful. It took a long time for me to recover from that. So I think once I had gone through Whipple surgery, the chemo and radiation didn't seem as bad. So, I think maybe for other people

that go through chemo and radiation without having something like Whipple surgery first, maybe it makes it more difficult. I'm not sure. I just know that in my experience, after Whipple's the chemo and radiation was not nearly as difficult. Did you know that Forbes Magazine recently cited that 70% of individuals who do personal

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I don't think you know this about me, I'm going to go to college on an athletic scholarship for cross-tentering track. I've done my fair share of training. Even under the best of circumstances, there are those days that you don't want to get out of bed and you don't want to lace the shoes on. You know, it's a constant struggle even under the best conditions. How did you get through those periods? Because I have to imagine there were days when you didn't want to do the training and you mustered the power within to do it. I think I always wanted to do this, the training. I think that was the part that was different. You're right.

In 2012, when I was training for my first Iron Man, completely healthy, there were days I was like, it's so hard, I don't have the time, I don't really want to do it. But in 2013, when I was going through chemo and radiation, I just wanted to be outside with my friends. And when I was outside swimming, biking and running, it made me feel good, it made me feel healthy. And I think it was a big distraction from

feeling like I was a cancer patient. And so I always felt better when I was outside training than when I was in the house feeling sick. So I really didn't have any of those days where I didn't want to go out and train. I always wanted to because it was such a positive thing for me. It was such a diversion. And mentally, I think that was very healthy for me

to be outside doing something that I loved with my friend and my husband. So, I mean, that's great. And so, you've done this training, you then go to Whistler in the event, the day of the event unfolds. Can you take me through that and then the event itself? So first of all, when we realized that we were going to be able to make the trip out to Whistler because I was still alive, we never imagined that I would be able to complete the Iron Man. We went out there with the intention that I would do the swim. I knew I'd be able

to do the swim because we had swam four kilometers a number of times in our training. And the way that the bike horse is set up, Whistler, is that the first third of it, we would go one way towards Callahan Valley. Sorry, we would go one way up into the Kellahann and I think it's like into the mountains and then come back to Whistler and then the second portion was two thirds of the bike course and we would go the opposite direction, do an out and back and come back to Whistler. So our plan was that I would do this swim and at least the first one third of the bike course and then we would see how things work. Right and I understand the bike course is not flat at all. It's really tough. So the swim went really, really well.

Actually, I did it in an hour and 15 minutes, which is actually a really good time. We were shocked. I was expecting to be around an hour 30. So when I came out of the water, my husband and friends were like, oh, wow, that's great. And the timing is very important because there's cutoffs. So if you don't finish the swim by a certain time or you don't finish the bike by a certain time, you can't keep going on in the air. So the fact that

I came out of the water 15 minutes ahead of time was great because that 15 minutes basically gets Added on to the cutoff for the bike time, right? Because I have to be done the bike by let's just say 3 p.m And so now I had 15 more minutes for the bike. So the first one We went out and then up into the So there was a climb up into the Olympic park into the, so there was a climb up into the Olympic park, so that was tough, but then you come back down and back to Whistler. And that went really well, I was feeling great, and so my husband was with me, he'd biked with me, and he said, so do you want to continue

yes? So the second portion is we went out to Pemberton Valley. So on the way out to Pemberton Valley, you go down, down, down, this series of hills. You get out to the valley. There's a long stretch flat. You come back and then you've got to come up this series of hills to get back to Whistler. So as we headed out going down the hills, it was fantastic, right?

It was super easy and we were going really fast. We get out to Pemberton Valley and we're on the flat stretch going out. And as we're going out, we pass by, you can see all these farms that are stretching out with these very long driveways, right? So I can see up ahead that there's a bunch of people congregated at the end of one of the driveways and they've got all these signs and as we approach I can see that one of the signs says go Cindy go and my name is both an S so I see on the sign go Cindy with an S go and as I pass by I yell up to John and I say John I think that sign might have been for me and he's like yeah

I'm pretty sure it was he says we'll stop on the way back and say hi So we go to the end we go to the turnaround we come back We pull up to the driveway stop. I am clip and I'm standing there and the people are looking at me and I'm like I'm Cindy your sign says go Cindy go and They just like there must have been 15 or 20 people and they just erupted and they're like, oh, we're so happy to see you. My story had been on global news right across Canada.

And so a lot of people in Vancouver and Whistler had heard the story that I was coming up to try to do. It's great. So, you know, we're talking, chatting, chatting, and John's like, Cindy, like we have a time moment here to get back to Whist you know, we're talking chatting chatting and John's like Cindy like we have a time limit here to get back to Whistler so we better go. So we headed back and we start going up these hills and oh my goodness, it was so hard. I you know, I couldn't even make it all the way up some of the some of the hills I would have to stop halfway and at the top of each hill, I think

there was about four or five series of hills and at the top of each hill John would have to stop halfway and at the top of each hill, I think there was about four or five series of hills and at the top of each hill, John would make me stop and have something to eat because he didn't want me to get, you know, low on energy. And I would say, oh, I can't keep stopping like this and eating. We're not going to make the time cut off and he'd be like, oh, yeah, we have so much time, which I find out later is not true, but he had to say that to get me to actually stop and have something to eat. So we continue, we continue. Oh my gosh, I felt like I was going so slow.

I was so worried we weren't going to make the cut off and we get to the top of the last hill and we're coming into Whistler and a bunch of my friends and family had came out to watch and they were all cheering and they're like, oh my god, you made it, you made it. And, you know, John and I just couldn't believe it. Like, we were shocked, you know, it's 180 kilometer by cried, it's really far. And, you know, we just couldn't believe it.

So as we're rolling into the transition area, John's like, well, now what do you want to do? Like we've made the bike cut off. We just couldn't believe that this could even ever happen. And I was like, well, we got to go out on the marathon course and see what happens. So we go into the change tents, get our run stuff on. And we head out on the run course.

And I think it's about seven hours that we have to complete the marathon, which is a pretty long time. You actually don't have to run the whole thing, but you do have to either do a very purposeful fast walk or you know, jog walk, jog walk. So that was a plan was to to walk and then anytime that there was a bit of a downhill, I would try to jog down the hills. So that's what we did. And again, we were out on the run course and there was so many people that, you know, they saw my bib and my name and they would call out and say, Cindy, we heard about you on the news and, you know, way to go. We really hope you're able to finish the Iron Man. And so that was really something very important. That must have been very inspirational for you.

It was, it was incredible the number of people on the sidelines and other athletes, right? Because there would be people walking behind us or passing us and saying, oh, way to go. And the marathon course at Iron Man Canada in Whistler is two loops. And so we did this first loop fast enough that John said, Cindy, you can walk the entire second loop, and we will still finish before the cutoff. So that's what I want you to do. Because again, he didn't want me to get too tired and compromise.

I still had more chemotherapy treatments when I would go back to Ottawa. So I was not finished chemo. I was between my 15th and 16th rounds out of 18. So I said okay, and so we walked the second second half of the course and we would stop and get food at eight stations and talk to people and the cutoff. I might have, yeah, that might have even made it more memorable because you got to interact and you got to experience it in a different way. And actually see all the stuff that's on the eight tables at an Iron Man, which, you know,

I had no idea when I did the one in Trumbla, it was like, you know, give me a banana and eating it as I kept running type thing and taking some liquids. But it was like, oh, wow, there's pretzels and oranges and crackers. And so yeah, it was a completely different experience. And the cutoff for an Iron Man is at midnight. So we knew we had to be done by midnight

and we finished at about 11.30 p.m. And so as we came into the finished shoot it was just Incredible there was so many people, you know, it was pitch dark, but there was all these lights people were cheering and As we cross it. It was It was unbelievable It was something that we could never imagine, ever happening. And I've looked up, I've Googled people that complete an Iron Man while on chemotherapy and I haven't found anybody else. Yeah, it's such an amazing feat. It's an amazing feat being healthy, much as your doctor said, much less.

Yeah, so. Have a really great thing is because I had started a fundraising page about three months after my diagnosis while I was training to try to raise money for cancer research. And because my story was covered by global news right across Canada, we were able to raise money for cancer research. And because my story was covered by global news right across Canada, we were able to raise $50,000. Oh, that's wonderful. As a result of all of this. So not only completing the Iron Man, but raising a lot of money, which felt really great. Yeah. And raising awareness for pancreatic cancer. Yeah, so what like one of the amazing stories and an uplifting one under some just amazing hardships you were going through. What do you think as you were going through that

were the biggest things, you know, outside of the chemo, what were some of the biggest things you had to overcome? It complete that journey. You know, probably the biggest thing was living with the fear. I mean, that's still a reality for me. The five year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is only 8%. And there are no 10 year survival stats, and I'm at eight years. So, you know know there's this

constant feeling that the cancer is going to come back. And certainly early on the risk of the cancer coming back was extremely high. So I would say that during that eight months time of going through chemotherapy and radiation and training for our men Canada. My biggest obstacle, whatever you want to call it, was the fear that I was dealing with. Many, many sleepless nights, lots of tears, not only for me, for my husband, for my family, husband for my family. Living with my credit cancer is an extremely, extremely difficult thing. Right. It is day. So I would say that for sure was was the biggest thing. And then just you know the side effects of the chemotherapy and radiation and all of the

appointments. Yeah, it's it's that goal, that, dealing with cancer treatments is very difficult. So I want to ask, do you think you can have success without adversity, or do you think that there's a link between the two, whether you're healthy or not? I think people feel adversity. I mean always, right? It's just what's the degree of the adversity. I mean, even when I was training for Iron Man, more Tromblons, when I was healthy, you know, there was adversity. It's just it was very different than then in 2013. So your question was like what is your, what is your, it's kind of advice for, you know, overcoming adversity?

Because you've had to do it in a very extreme way. Most people don't have to do it to that extreme, but what advice would you give to overcoming adversities that you face? I think breaking down whatever it is, whatever your challenge is, whatever the difficulty is is breaking it down into smaller pieces so that it doesn't seem so big. smaller pieces so that it doesn't seem so big. I've told this story before, the first time I trained for an Ironman, I had a hard time thinking about the Ironman as a whole. I couldn't think of it, it just seemed way too overwhelming.

So I only ever thought about the swim or the bike or the run. I only thought of it in portions. And so with going through cancer treatments, it was the same thing. If I tried to look too far in the future or think about, you know, what I was doing, you know, even two months away, or the fear, it was just too much. So I had to stay very much in the present, you know, just think about, you know about what do I need to do to get through today and not think too far in the future, not think about the whole thing.

So I think trying to stay present and trying to break down whatever your challenges into smaller pieces and only try to accomplish one piece at a time. That would be my biggest recommendation for people. Yeah, it's actually a philosophy that I've implemented myself time and time again over my life. And I had this boss when I was at a Lowe's named Steve Stone. And he told me it was great.

I had a great talent that I could see the vision of the future years and years in advance. And he said the issue is, is when you're trying to lead people to a destination, most people can't see that far ahead. And so you have to really break it down into actionable steps that they can accomplish along that journey and break it down to accomplish goals that you can accomplish.

And once you accomplish the goal, then you extend it and extend it. And it's kind of the same thing you're bringing up. So with that, how would advice would you give on, you know, you have adversity, but with adversity can come negative emotions. So how do you deal with negative emotions? So my biggest negative emotions would have been the fear. And so for me, it's just trying to block it out.

So for you, was it fear that you wouldn't be able to, I mean, there's fear of the cancer, but there's also, was there also fear that you wouldn't be able to accomplish the goal of competing in, you know, not only that triathlon, but other things you've done. Well, in terms of the Iron Man, no, I never had any fear of not completing the Iron Man because that was never, that was never even a goal, right? Like I said, our plan was to just go and do the swim and the first part of the bike course and I knew I got.

So my goal wasn't to complete the Iron Man, my goal was just to go and participate and hopefully my participation would increase awareness of pancreatic cancer and raise some money. So I never had a fear of not completing the Iron Man. My fear was of dying, my fear was of the cancer coming back. And that at the time was huge. I mean, keeping me up at night, tears, so many discussions with my husband. And so the only way that I felt I could deal with that was, you know, to block it out. There's the statistics are just so horrible.

You can't, like, you might say, oh, well, do some research and find some positive results. I went online to try to find some long-term survivors, and I couldn't find any. Every time I looked online to try to find someone who had lived past two years, it was just, it made it worse. I couldn't find anybody. And then I did find a few people and then out around the two-year mark they died. So, so the only way that I can deal with that fear is just, you know, blocking it out and trying not to think about it. Which I managed to do pretty well during the day because you know your busy and stuff is going on but it would be at night or falling asleep or if I'd wake up in the middle of the night and it would come into my mind. That would be really difficult.

So, you know, with a lot of things you can't just block it out, right? I mean lots of people face adversity and things that have to be dealt with. You can't just block it out and ignore it. So I guess that example of adversity is very different. Yeah, and I've never had to have that type of adversity. I've experienced different types of trauma, whether it's been military trauma or physical assault trauma, things like that. And you kind of have to go through the same thing.

But my way of coping with it is you have to figure out what those thoughts are that are stopping that continually build up and stop you from sleeping and everything. And deal with them in a positive way, so they're not blocking your path anymore. Absolutely. So now you've, you know, it's been seven and a half years give or take, since you did that triathlon. I wanted to ask, you know, now that you've had this aftermath, what is your life and the

lives of those around you like now compared to where it was before you began your journey? Yeah, my life now is quite different. I was working before and I'm not now. I decided after pancreatic cancer that I would retire and spend my time enjoying life as much as I could and also trying to give back. So I'm now coaching people that want to run or do triathlon. So that's one thing is coaching. I also do quite a bit of fundraising for the Ottawa Hospital and getting a lot of enjoyment out of that. So the way that the way that I do fundraising is we have a big race weekend here in Ottawa every year. It's in May, Ottawa Race Weekend and it's a running event with events 2K, 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon.

And so I lead a running team every year that participates in that race weekend and in our train through our training and participation in that race, we do very fun raising events to raise money. And so that's become a really big part of my life. And then since that started, then other people wanted to have me coach them, you know, throughout the year, not just leading up toddler race weekend, but throughout the year. So really fun raising and coaching and the other difference now is I'm really trying to get my story out into the media to offer hope to other people that get diagnosed with pancreatic cancer because like I said when I was diagnosed I didn't have any hope just a lot of, I couldn't find any long-term survivors,

and that's just devastating. So a big part of what I'm trying to do now is get myself out into social media and the media to offer that hope to other people. And I'm through my own journey with my sister. I've been spending a lot more time doing research, and I'm sure you're familiar with Pancan, a nonprofit organization, probably the most prominent one

around pancreatic cancer. And as I've gotten to know several of the board members, they have told me that these characters, these statistics are starting to change. And I will try to put you in contact with the gentleman I know because he now knows a lot of people who are surviving past five years and he even has some that have gone past a decade or longer. So, you know, my hope, obviously, for you and my sisters that this research continues to, you know, to develop and evolve and they find more and more ways.

So, you recently competed yet another, you know, not a triathlon, but another long distance race a few months ago if I, if I remember correctly. Can you tell me about that experience? I thought you did a 50 mile 50 kilometer 50 kilometer ultra run yet. So my friend Janet and I, we like to go to Tucson every year in December to run. They have an event there in Tucson and we'd like to go there because at the beginning of December here in Ottawa it's getting pretty cold and a little bit of snow on the ground. All the leaves have fallen off the tree. It's kind of grim and in Tucson obviously it's on the ground. All the leaves have fallen off the tree. It's kind of grim. And in Tucson, obviously, it's beautiful and sunny.

So my friend Janet chose this destination in Tucson at the beginning of the December, also because it's from our birthday. And we go down there and we spend some time in the sun and we do a race, a half marathon. Once I did the marathon there. And we do a little bit of Christmas shopping and then come home. So it's become a really nice annual thing for us to do together.

And in 2020, it would be the Tucson Marathon's 50th anniversary of being around. And so they decided to add a 50 kilometer ultra to their marathon and so I said to my friend Jan I said whoa that would be fun to to try that. Janet has only run one marathon I run around three or four and so I said this would be an interesting thing to try. And I asked her if she would do it with me and she agreed. And then because of COVID, in 2022, Son Marathon had to cancel that event. And so instead of us just not, I mean, we knew we couldn't travel to Tucson anyway, but then they actually canceled it.

But we decided we would try to run the 50 kilometers here in Ottawa and again make it into a fundraising opportunity. And so we started our training in August and we trained through until we ran the 50 kilometers at the end of October and we raised just over $20,000 and we did actually complete the 50K and we were both pretty happy that we were able to. That's great. That was a huge goal for both of us and we accomplished it. So accomplishing it as well as raising over $20,000 was very...

Yeah, both fantastic. So I did want to give a couple things, give you the chance to give a couple tidbits here. If people were interested in having you coach them, how can they get a hold of you? Well, the easiest way to get a hold of me is through email. And my email is sende with an SSI and DY hoop at gmail.com. I'm also very active on, especially Instagram. And my handle there is sendoop, S-I-N-H-O-O-P. So people can easily reach me through Instagram.

And I'm also on Facebook as Cindy Hooper with an S. So that would be how anybody could reach me. And I'd be happy to love to hear from any of your listeners. Okay. And if any of the listeners would like to learn more about pancreatic cancer and how to help rid the world of this disease, what are some of the better sources that you have found? Well, so as you mentioned, Pancan is an incredible resource

in the United States. And here in Canada, there's probably two sources that are really good. I would say pancreatic cancer Canada is one of them and the other is Craig's Cause, which is an organization on the East Coast. So pancreatic cancer Canada or Craig's Cause would be the best to in Canada, in my opinion.

Okay, and I did wanna, you know, kind of, I'm gonna ask you a couple summary question. You know, kind of ask you a couple of summary questions. You know, I consider you such a winner for everything that you have had to overcome and accomplish. For the listeners out there, how do you develop a winner's mindset, especially when you're faced with what you were faced with? I guess there's probably a couple of things about my personality that are, you know, in eight, that I think I was born with. I don't think, I mean, I probably developed them to a certain extent, but, you know, first of all, I have a type-a personality. I'm extremely driven to achieve things and whether that's, you know, going to university, getting a good job, things and whether that's, you know, going to university, getting a good job, working really hard,

everything that I do, I do at 100%, and a very hard worker, and I'm also very competitive. So when it comes to athletics, you know, when I went to run my first marathon, it wasn't good enough to just complete it. I wanted to qualify for Boston. And, you know, everybody said to me, oh, no, you don't qualify for Boston on your first marathon. And I was like, why not? And I said out to do that and did it, right? So same with what I did, my first Iron Man, I wanted to qualify for the World Championships. And again, everyone's like, oh, you don't do that on your first Iron Man. You just want to go out to complete it. But I was like, did my first Iron Man, I wanted to qualify for the World Championships and again everyone's like, oh, you don't do that on your first Iron Man, you just want to go out to complete it. But I was like, no, I'm going to give it a shot.

And so I trained super, super hard. And I was almost successful only nest as I told you by two places. So I'm just, you know, very, very hard worker, very driven, very motivated to succeed and competitive. And so, I think having that type of personality really helps to, you know, develop that winner's mindset because for me, if you're not succeeding and achieving and doing really well and being busy and working hard That just wouldn't seem What's the word I?

Wouldn't be happy I wouldn't feel fulfilled You know if I wasn't working hard and achieving and doing well For other people I think my advice would just be, you know, set a goal and what you wanna achieve and stay focused, work hard, you know, anything that's really good in life, it's not gonna come easy, it's gonna take hard work and you just have to be determined.

And again, like we talked about before, keep the goals small and achievable, little steps to get you there. And just keep plugging away at it, believe that anything is possible. Iron Man's motto is anything as possible. And I had that put on, you know, we, I designed some shirts that my friends and family and athletes wear. And there's two things on it. Two things in particular on it. One is anything as possible. And the other model that I believe in is MEMC make every moment count. model that I believe in is MEMC make every moment count. So, you know, set big goals, dream big work hard and believe that anything is possible. Okay, and I guess I would end with this. I always like to end the episodes with this question. If there was anyone alive or deceased

that you could meet, who would it be and why? So many different people come to my mind. It's hard to choose a person in particular. I think, maybe my answer would have to be Martin Luther King. Oh, interesting. And why Martin Luther King? Oh, interesting. And why Martin Luther King? Oh, just everything that he achieved and the changes he made to history,

I think it would be incredible to just sit down with him and hear how he thinks and what it was like for him, everything that he went through and achieving what he achieved. Yeah. Yeah, he, he, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a great example and I remember when I was in my first year at the Naval Academy, we during, kind of between our first year and our second year, we had these leadership sessions. And I got to have be taught by two great admirals,

Vice Admiral Lawrence and Admiral Stockdale. And they both had been prisoners of war. And it was interesting because both independently said that they have no regrets about being that they were a prisoner of war. And then a few years later, I met Senator John McCain and he said the same thing. In fact, they said that adversity and struggle on their life ended up being one of the most positive things that influenced what they did with the rest of their life. And I think much could be said the same with Martin Luther King.

If I think of a Canadian example, I think it would have to be Terry Fox. He faced such adversity at such a young age and what he did with that and what he accomplished. Everything that's happened since his, you know, his death. I mean, he just really changed the way that, I mean, he's just changed so many things in Canada with regards to cancer awareness, cancer fundraising. So he would be another person that would be incredible to sit down and talk with. be another person that would be incredible to sit down and talk with. That's great. And I'm going to end on this question. If any of the listeners who are here today are faced with a personal illness or diagnosis

of cancer, what advice would you give them about, you know, how to deal with it? I think the biggest thing is trying to stay positive and hanging on to hope that everything's going to be okay. That was probably the most difficult thing for me who is dealing with the fear and the uncertainty and and so trying to stay hopeful and positive and strong through, you know, especially through the treatment, I think, is huge. And also, trying to stay active, I think a lot of people when they get diagnosed with cancer and are starting to go through treatments

feel like they need to just save up all their energy to be able to keep the immune system high and be able to deal with the cancer treatments. I personally think it's very, very important to stay active and now there's a lot of research supporting that as well. So make sure you get outside for some walks. If you enjoy gardening, I mean, that's an activity or cycling.

So try to stay active, try to stay as positive and hopeful as you can and just believe that you're gonna get through it. Well great. Well thank you so much for sharing your inspirational story with our listeners and I'm so glad to have learned more about your story and finally got to meet you face to face via this medium. Same here John. Thank you face to face via this medium. Same here, John. Thank you.

Thank you for inviting me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my story. As I said, it's very important to me. And it was really nice to meet you. And it'll be nice when we're emailing and being in touch in the future that now we have a face to put to the name. So thank you. That was such an inspirational message today

from Sydney Hooper, what a story of perseverance overcoming the odds and not giving up. I am so ecstatic that she was able to be on the show and tell her story, and I hope that through this, we have brought more awareness to paint graded cancer, how she defeated it and is living a passion-driven life today. And as for my sister, she is also living a passion-driven life. We have had our ups and downs, going from stage one cancer, finding out she had stage four B, to then

miraculously that cancer disappearing, and she was recently able to go through the same Whipple procedure that Sydney did eight years ago. Thank you so much for listening and watching to the show and keep on igniting your passion. Thank you so much for joining us. The purpose of our show is to make passion go viral. And we do that by sharing with you the knowledge and skills that you need to unlock your hidden potential. If you want to hear more, please subscribe to the Cash and Start podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to your podcast at. And if you absolutely love this episode, we'd appreciate a five-star rating on iTunes. And you're sharing it with three of your most growth-minded friends,

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