Run For Your Life: How to Keep Going After a Cancer Diagnosis

What would you do after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer: Run for your life or take it sitting down?
.
Running an ultramarathon undoubtedly requires grit.
.
You’re simultaneously facing the unknown as well as the inevitability of pain.
.
Although he is new to running, Bill Thach is no stranger to either...

Back in 2018, after Bill had his first child, he faced layoffs at work which left him uninsured. 

• One morning after discovering blood in his stool, Bill knew he needed to be seen by a doctor. 
• Thus began the pursuit of an employer. 
• Once he was finally seen by a primary care physician, Bill’s concerns weren’t taken seriously. 
• The physician brushed off Bill’s symptoms as “most likely hemorrhoids”, but Bill wasn’t convinced. 
• He pushed for further testing.

“Neuroendocrine Carcinoma” (NEC) wasn’t what Bill expected to hear when he woke up from anesthesia after a colonoscopy that revealed a large mass in his rectum.

• Neuroendocrine cancer is a rare class of cancers that originate in neuroendocrine cells found throughout the body. 
• This means that the cancer can originate from multiple sites like the lungs, intestines, cervix, or pancreas and spread to other parts of the body. 
• NECs are tough to detect and can have incredibly aggressive growth patterns. 

Give NEC a quick Google search like Bill did upon diagnosis, and you’ll probably notice that the survival rates are somewhat grim.

• As a rare and aggressive form of cancer, people diagnosed with NEC usually have a 5-year survival rate. 
• Typically, NEC patients have less than one year depending on the stage and primary location of the tumor. 
• Neuroendocrine Cancer has claimed the lives of both Aretha Franklin and Steve Jobs, yet Bill continues to defy the odds at nearly 6 years post-diagnosis–while doing so in an unconventional fashion.

🏃‍♂️Roughly three years after Bill had an 18-hour surgery that removed his rectum, prostate, bladder, parts of the liver and abdominal muscle, he ran his very first ultramarathon. 

Never having run more than 6 miles at once, Bill signed up for the Brazos Bend 50K just 3 weeks prior to race day. 

• He remembers thinking: "Oh wow, the pressure’s on now!" 

His interest in running really sparked early on as he was undergoing clinical trial treatments. 

• Unfortunately the first trial drugs caused severe charlie-horse cramping throughout his body, making running nearly impossible.
• But once that trial was over, Bill hit the pavement running.  

The long training runs and his new clinical trial treatments were a grueling combination. 

• Oftentimes, Bill had to go to the hospital at 5 a.m. and wouldn’t get home until 5 p.m. in the evening, but that didn’t stop him.
• He would log 4-mile walks around the hospital grounds during the day.
• Then go for a run, bike, or rowing session at night after getting home from treatment. 

“It’s a question of being committed," says Bill. "I committed myself to a 50K."
.
"When you have cancer, you are committed to all the hell treatment is going to put you through…Are you okay with being uncomfortable and moving forward?”
.
For Bill, the short answer to the question is always an emphatic: "Yes!"

• Bill completed the 50K (despite going out a bit too hot–we’ve all been there)! 
• Along the way, he got to experience how supportive the running community is, and of course, the glorious aid station fare. 
• Like many of us, Bill views ultras as an eating contest. 
• He revels in knowing that he can eat as much as he wants and he’ll burn it off before the next aid station.

Unlike many of us, Bill doesn’t have an embarrassing poop story to tell.

• Instead, he has a secret, and some might argue performance-enhancing, weapon. 
• “I have a colostomy bag, so I don’t have to stop for the bathroom as much! It’s definitely an advantage,” Bill jokes. 

But running is only one small part of the picture for Bill. He hopes that he can spread awareness for NEC. 

“Patients in my subset of cancer don’t have a voice," says Bill.

• "The way I see it is I’m an outlier and physically I’m doing a lot better than patients out there."
• "My main focus is to highlight this type of cancer and inspire other people."

One of the most striking aspects of Bill’s story is his resistance to the stereotyping of cancer patients.

• He recognizes that everyone is fighting their own battle and disease doesn’t have one certain “look.” 
• He pushes back against the idea that terminal illness is synonymous with giving up on the things that make one’s life meaningful. 

Hearing Bill describe his battle with NEC and the hardships he experiences, one might wonder:

• Why doesn’t he just take time to rest instead of putting himself through the elective suffering that comes with running ultramarathons?

He's thought about that question for a long time. Here's why he keeps pushing...

• “I know there will be a day that I can’t get out of bed or take a walk."
• "I’m cherishing the time even though it’s painful and hard on the body."
• "It makes me happy to just move. A lot of people take that for granted…"
• "The day you stop seeing me doing activity on Strava, something is wrong."

Since July of 2023 when his first clinical trial treatment became ineffective (a common occurrence with NEC patients), Bill has been on 3 different clinical trials in an attempt to get the disease under control. 
.
“The cancer continues to spread in my body, but this is not going to stop me from raising awareness and doing the things I enjoy,” says Bill.

• Recently, Bill appeared on The Anti-Cancer Life and The Houston Running Zone podcasts to tell his story. 
• On World NET Cancer Day–November 10th, 2024–he aims to run a self-supported ultramarathon to raise $10,000 for neuroendocrine carcinoma research at Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation. So far, he has raised more than half of the funds! 
• 👉Donate to his fundraiser for NEC research here. 

More ultra races
.
On top of his self-supported ultra, Bill is training for the Big Bend Ultra in January. And he hopes to eventually run a 50-miler depending on his health status.
.
His mindset for tackling these big running goals is the same one he uses to battle NEC:

• “There’s a lot of similarities between ultras and cancers," says Bill. 
• "During both, you’ll see the best and the worst of yourself. You have to make the decision if you’re going to keep going or if you’ll quit."

And “quit” really isn’t a word in Bill’s vocabulary.
.
Follow Bill’s journey on Strava and learn more about NEC at his Instagram @neccancerbillt.