Triathlete’s stamina Anna Zimmerman doesn't expect to set any records in the Tinman Triathlon on Sunday. Just finishing it will be a victory.
beat leukemia
The upcoming event is much
more than a race for
Anna ZimmermanBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comBut she is proud of a recent personal record: She left St. Francis Medical Center on June 7 last year -- 14 days after a bone marrow transplant for acute leukemia.
The typical stay after such a procedure is about 30 days, said Dr. Kaye Kawahara, hematologist/oncologist. "She was in and out faster than anyone else. She is tremendous ... really an inspiration to other folks. I think she gives hope to other people."
Zimmerman, 33, actually began triathlon training in the hospital with a 30-foot walk, progressing to increasing laps in the hallways. She also used a stationary bike in the hospital.
"She never did stop," Kawahara said. She participated in the Tinman Triathlon twice before, in 1997 and 1998, finishing the 800-meter swim, 6.2-mile run and 25-mile bike ride in 2.5 hours each time.
She had to watch from the sidelines last year when her husband, Darren, 41, also a cancer survivor, raced with her sister and bone marrow donor, Abigail.
They crossed the finish line with a sign saying "Anna, You Beat Leukemia."
"That was kind of a surprise for me," Anna said. A nurse at the Queen's Medical Center, Zimmerman said she transferred from the respiratory unit to oncology so she could "inspire others and let them know there is hope out there. God has really blessed me with the opportunity to let other people know that it's possible.
"There is that feeling, a little bit of hopelessness and 'I'm doomed,' maybe feeling sorry for yourself. It doesn't have to be that way. It is possible to overcome that."
Kawahara said, "A lot of folks who have cancer just don't want to think about it any more. With her, it's just the opposite. It's given her the experience to maybe help other folks going through a similar thing."
Darren Zimmerman is his wife's role model. He was 18 when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and said he's never had any problems since. He began doing the Tinman Triathlons in 1996.
"He's actually the one who inspired me to be so athletic and an outdoorsy type," Anna said. "He beats me. He's in great shape."
She said she came to Hawaii about 12 years ago as a medic in the Army, then got a nursing degree at the University of Hawaii.
She was diagnosed with leukemia in October 1998. Chemotherapy treatments put her in remission, then she relapsed in May last year, she said.
Her two brothers and two sisters on the mainland tested as bone marrow donors and Abigail, 29, was the only one who matched.
"The timing was great," Anna said, because her sister was here on a summer break from her job as a school teacher in Virginia when she needed transplant surgery.
"It has been challenging, with ups and downs," she said. "I had little periods of struggling, with no appetite, losing weight. My immune system was down."
But she said, "I've been blessed with a speedy recovery, and energy and strength to do this (triathlon).
"I don't have a goal of finishing in a certain time. I just want to finish and do it. I would like to be an inspiration to others."