2023 Inspiration Award, 2023
Sindy Hooper
Sindy is a mom of two boys, a wife, a runner and triathlete. Ten years ago, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, despite having none of the risk factors and no family history.
Since her diagnosis, she has had three gastrointestinal surgeries, 41 rounds of chemotherapy, 33 days of radiation, and too many CT scans and MRIs to count. During that time, she ran the Boston Marathon, competed in three world championship triathlons, and completed two Ironmans.
With such low survival rates, there are few survivors of pancreatic cancer to champion fundraising. So Sindy wanted to give back through raising both awareness and much-needed funds. In the past eight years, she has shared her story and led running teams to raise money. With her team the MEMC Crew (Make Every Moment Count), she’s helped raise $487,000 for cancer research.
Unfortunately, in September 2022, after 10 years of her cancer being in remission, it spread to her lung, spine and one rib. She entered stage four pancreatic cancer care and doctors said she has realistically one year to live. Sindy is now on “chemotherapy for life,” which is very tough to handle, physically and mentally, but has been working to keep her tumours stable. On Sept. 26, 2023, she reached one year of survival in stage four.