Breast cancer survivor hikes 485 miles on the Colorado Trail – just 5 weeks after double mastectomy

For the past four years, Kelly LaMarre has been training for one thing: to hike the Colorado Trail.

At 49-years-old, she felt young, healthy, and vibrant. So, a diagnosis of stage 1 breast cancer, just two months before her planned hike, was a complete shock.

“When you get a diagnosis like that, it stops you in your tracks,” said LaMarre, who is a nurse at M Health Fairview St. John’s Hospital in Maplewood. This is also where she met Keith Wirth, MD, a surgical oncologist. Wirth worked closely with LaMarre to understand her goals when it came to treatment and recovery.

“Kelly is very active. We knew she was planning this big hike,” Wirth said. “There’s a lot of big decisions early on that I talk through with my patients and make sure they know they have options when it comes to surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. In this case, Kelly knew what she wanted.”

Just two weeks after her diagnosis, LaMarre underwent a double mastectomy procedure, which involves removing the tumor and as much breast tissue as possible to reduce the chances of the tumor spreading and impacting other parts of her body. Her care team also tested the tumor and her lymph nodes – important factors in determining whether or not she would need chemotherapy after surgery.

“I told myself, ‘if I don’t have to do chemo, I will do this hike,’” LaMarre said.

Training gave her purpose

LaMarre spent the next two weeks recovering from surgery, but not necessarily resting, as she waited for the biopsy results of the tumor to tell her whether or not she would need chemotherapy.

During that time, she continued to find ways to train and move her body, even if it was at a different intensity than she was doing before.

“I couldn’t use my arms or my torso too much. I couldn’t carry my backpack right away,” she said. “But I just kept walking.” Staying active is something Wirth also encouraged.

Four weeks after her surgery, LaMarre was cleared to wear her backpack during hikes – a huge “win” if she was to go on training for Colorado. LaMarre even practiced hiking on the historic Stillwater stairs, determined not to let her diagnosis slow her down.

Then, just two weeks before she was supposed to go on her trip, she got a major piece of news she’d been waiting for – the biopsy on the tumor came back. Based on the results, LaMarre would not need to do chemotherapy.