National Cancer Survivors Day is a celebration of life. Embodying that spirit—and sharing it with others—is among the greatest gifts of all.

"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."

That’s what 40-year-old Lockey Maisonneuve told herself last summer, when the Cranford mother of two young children was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in her right breast. She had discovered the lump herself—at four and a half centimeters—and then, as she puts it, “I failed my first mammogram.”

Says Maisonneuve, a certified personal trainer at Parisi Sports Club in Garwood and now also a certified cancer exercise specialist who teaches at Overlook, “I’m a fairly healthy person. I exercise. I watch what I eat. Never in
a million years did I think it would be cancer. I thought it would be a cyst.”

Her diagnosis in August 2007 set off a roller-coaster ride of treatment: a mastectomy on her right breast in October, chemotherapy from November through February, radiation and herceptin beginning in April. For the next five years, she’ll take a daily dose of tamoxifen to prevent cancer cells from developing in her body; she’s estrogen-receptive, she has learned, and estrogen has been shown to help cancer cells grow.

“I cannot believe everything I’ve been through, physically and mentally,” she says. “But I consider myself to be a very fortunate cancer patient. At the time of my diagnosis, I trained a couple of people who worked at Overlook. I got put in front of the right people to help me, and they inspired me to help other people. I was truly amazed by how amazing these people were with me.”

Which is not to say the road back has been easy. Of her three-month cycle of chemotherapy, Maisonneuve says, “If you can imagine the exhaustion of being pregnant and having a fever and having food poisoning—all at once—you get an idea of what it’s like to go through chemo. I remember lying on my bed. My feet were freezing, but I couldn’t put my socks on. They were right there, but I couldn’t put them on.” It was around that time that she decided she didn’t want other people to go through chemotherapy the same way. “I told my husband, ‘I don’t want this to be for nothing. I want to learn something from this to help other people.’ ”

Losing her hair “was horrific,” she admits, and going back to work was hard. “I had the wig to deal with, and the itching,” she says. “When an instructor told me to go do cardio work, I couldn’t do it—I was too tired. If I felt that way, given my profession, how would other people feel?” Fate seemingly intervened when a colleague brought Maisonneuve a flyer on becoming a cancer exercise specialist. Following chemotherapy, she took classes to receive her certification, and now she’s giving back to the same community of survivors she herself is part of.
She teaches seminars to inform all different kinds of cancer sufferers about programs for during and after treatment, and pre- and post-surgery. She talks a lot about precaution (and cautions people to carve out two hours at a time for activity: one for exercise, and one for a nap). Through her exercise classes at Overlook for fellow breast cancer patients—many of whom have had surgery, like she had, and rehabilitation—Maisonneuve introduces range-of-motion exercises, flexibility training, and working the lower body.

"When a person has cancer," she says, "just about everything goes into protective mode. You think, There’s nothing I can do right now. But it isn’t true. You get to a point where you’re so protective of your body because you don’t want to hurt anymore; you forget you can move other parts of your body."

For Maisonneuve, her students’ achievements give her great pleasure. “It’s what gives me breath,” she says proudly, “when I see new range of motion or when someone says, ‘Now I can lift my arms above my head!’ When you work with cancer patients, you have to be able to use time cautiously and wisely, and keep their spirits up. My students have great attitudes, even though they’re going through all these ugly things. It’s inspiring.”

Just nine months after her diagnosis, Maisonneuve looks back fondly on something she was told by her breast surgeon, Diana Addis, MD. “She told me, ‘You’re going to have a bad year, but when you look back, it’s just going to be a bump in the road.’ ” Maisonneuve looks to make those words a reality. She’s training to compete in a triathlon this September, and is quite an inspiration to others.

“I tell other cancer patients that if someone offers to help, take the help. You can give it back later, but take the help.” Maisonneuve, for one, is giving back more than she realizes.

To learn more about Maisonneuve’s classes at Overlook or to contact the Cancer Center at Overlook Hospital, call (866) 924-4971.

About National Cancer Survivors Day

Millions of people worldwide are living with cancer. National Cancer Survivors Day (NCSD) is the world’s largest and fastest-growing annual cancer-survivor event, aimed at demonstrating that life after cancer diagnosis can be a reality. The NCSD Foundation defines a “survivor” as anyone living with a history of cancer, from diagnosis through the remainder of life. This year’s NCSD, on June 1, marks the 21st annual celebration of the day—but, as many survivors remark, every day is a cause for celebration.