x
Breaking News
More () »

Fitness expert Missy Kane shares her journey as a cancer survivor

Missy Kane is the co-chair of Sunday's Subway Race Against Cancer

She was a distance runner at the university of Tennessee who became a track and field Olympian and a member of the Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame.

She's a fitness expert, television host, mother and wife.

Missy Kane is also the co-chair of Sunday's Subway Race Against Cancer and a cancer survivor.

"2009 I went to Dr. Grande for my yearly exam, full-body exam to see about moles and all that stuff. And at the very end she said put your feet up. Oh, ok, She said we check everywhere. Bottom of my feet. She said what's this. It was kind of like next to my arch," she said.

The doctor froze what looked like a wart but Missy noticed it was still there six weeks later so she went back for a follow up exam and biospy.

"She called me the next day and I could tell she was shaken up. And she said you need to come in. It is letiginous cancer which is very fast growing and I was like wow. And so that really changed your world," she said.

Her world was hiking, biking, outdoor activities with a lot of sun exposure. That's why the light-skinned, blue-eyed woman made sure to keep those yearly dermatology appointments. But letiginous melanoma - her diagnosis - is triggered not by sun but probably by genetic mutations.

"That's what Bob Marley died of, letiginous cancer. It usually affects your palms and your feet and it's not sun produced," she said.

She competed in the Olympics. She sets a goal and then she reaches it. She was determined to do whatever it took to beat cancer.

"At Ft Sanders Regional and Thompson Cancer they did a little probe where they go through your body to see of it's traveled. And so luckily there weren't any lymph nodes involved so they think we don't need to do chemo. The surgery with Dr Midas and Dr Lucas was major. They had to re-do the whole bottom of my foot because you go deep to get that cancer out. Can I walk again? Can I do my hiking, biking?" she remembered.

A few months after surgery she was biking and a few months after that she was hiking. Nine years later she is cancer-free.

She said,"I'm just very thankful that I had a good team to take care of me." :55

A team that put this athlete back on her feet.

The Subway race against cancer is Sunday afternoon at World's Fair Park.

Registration opens at 11:30 and the starting gun goes off at 2:00.

Before You Leave, Check This Out