“I Am Not Breast Cancer”

“I am not breast cancer,” says Liz Anderson, co-owner of CrossFit Blaze in Naples, Fla. She has been battling breast cancer for two years, and CrossFit has helped her find the strength to fight.

Anderson says she has been through multiple treatments, chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries.

“I actually did CrossFit during chemotherapy,” she says. “The energy level goes way down when you’re going through something like that. So it helped me to keep my energy up and helped me to feel more positive about a situation that was obviously, you know, scary—very scary.”

She continues: “There is a parallel with CrossFit and going through breast-cancer treatment.”

Through her experience, she found the mental fortitude required to get through treatment and testing is similar to the mental fortitude CrossFit demands for that next pull-up or lift.

Although she is still on her road to recovery, Anderson is excited to pursue her CrossFit goals.

“I will be doing a pull-up,” Anderson says. “I’m determined.”

8min 58sec

Additional reading: Lifting to Save a Pair by Robert Wilson, published Sept. 27, 2010.