Thanksgiving Runner: "I'm Thankful for Cancer"

ATLANTA, Ga. -- When life is a marathon, you have no choice but to keep running. Katie Allen says her family has been through an emotional marathon, and is now running the real thing. "I pretend that is I could make it to that hill, he would have never gotten sick," she said.

Her brother, Daniel Zuniga, was 16 years old when a series of headaches sent him from doctor to doctor. After a trip to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, they finally heard those dreaded words: Your son has cancer.

"They tried to tell me. It was just shocking. There's no way," Daniel's mom, Noreen, remembers.

She says she doesn't remember that day. It's just a blur: "It's just a numbing, shocking thing. You don't recover right away. You think you're doing OK, but you're not. It takes a few days to hit you."

"I knew as soon as I saw her face," Katie said. "I didn't even go into the room. I went straight to the hospital chapel."

Daniel was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. "The doctor said, 'don't look on the web', because the numbers and his chances were not good."

For three years, Daniel battled cancer. He was determined to graduate from Chamblee High School. That spring, he caught pneumonia. "It was bad. Really bad," Katie remembers.

In marathon terms, it was a brick wall. It's a time when you quit or push through. Daniel pushed. He is now in remission. He says his battle with cancer and marathon running have a lot in common. "You're on cruise control. You're doing OK. But then you hit a hill. You hit a BIG hill, and you have to get through it. You just have to."

Katie and Noreen will run the thanksgiving half marathon with Team in Training. They're raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.

"I know that I had to do it. I just thought that if I made it, it would erase everything. And we could find a cure and nobody would have to suffer," Katie said.

As the Zuniga family lists their blessings, cancer is among them. Daniel says because of cancer, he met his wife. She, too, is in remission. They met at camp sunshine, were married this June.

"Without cancer, I wouldn't have met her," Daniel says. "It really has made me very thankful for everything in my life."

"It is easy to get wrapped up in the rush of the season," Katie said. "But then, I have these moments. I just look at him across the table, and I am so thankful that's not an empty chair."

Click Here to learn more about Team in Training.

11Alive's Julie Wolfe is training to run the ING Georgia Marathon with TNT. See her page and Read her blog.

Click Here to find out results from the 2009 Thanksgiving marathon and half.