Susan Lower loves the saying “finish strong.” She even has it tattooed on her. She’s leaned on the motto when competing in numerous triathlons, Ironman competitions, and even the Boston Marathon. When she suddenly faced arguably the most important “race” of her life, it was only natural that she embraced the mantra to help through her battle against Stage 4 colorectal cancer.
“It’s cool to think about cancer (like a race) and helps me mentally grasp it,” Susan says. “I have to have a good attitude and ‘Finish Strong’ is my motto.”
The cancer was found when Susan went in for a colonoscopy. The finding left Susan in total shock. She felt healthy, she’d been working out frequently, and was training for a race.
“I felt fine,” she says. “It’s all new to me. I was shocked and scared.”
Once the shock and fear subsided, Susan started to view her treatment in stages, like training for an Ironman. A typical Ironman requires six to eight months of training, which is coincidentally the amount of time she’ll be in treatment.
“Chemo is like the swim section,” she says. “Radiation will be the biking section and the full marathon would be the surgery. Everything coincides with the breakdown.”
Also like training for a triathlon, Susan is relying on her team to help her get through the treatments. Some of her teammates include Steven Yates, MD, Joanne Lutman, RN navigator, and Johnathan Taitano, DO.
Marissa Muraoka is also part of the team. She acts as Susan’s liaison nurse and handles a variety of tasks for Susan, ranging from “actively listening to her about her symptoms, identifying healthcare needs that need to be addressed, and connecting her to our large network of providers who are able to assist.” When Susan completed her first round of chemotherapy, Marissa even made a “Finish Strong” sign for her.
“Our mission is to help people live the healthiest lives possible,” Marissa says. “Genuinely welcoming a patient with a sense of caring and empathy is encompassed in that mission. Our oncology nurses are amazing—they administer a heavy dose of TLC along with every chemo treatment they deliver.”
Susan is surrounded by Intermountain caregivers who love what they do. It shows in the way she jubilantly shows up for chemotherapy to the familiar face of her nurse Cayme Takach every time. The familiarity, welcome, and genuine support she’s received from her caregivers has given her strength during a long road of tough treatments.
Susan credits Marissa and her team for making her feel loved throughout the process.
“Everybody on board is positive,” Susan says. “When you have teammates during training, you have to be there for each other. That’s how I feel with Intermountain Healthcare. They’re checking on me.”