Young breast cancer survivor shares how fitness programs have helped her heal

CINCINNATI (WKRC) – Your personal prescription for managing a health condition might just be a trip to the gym.

Local 12 shares why doctors are now recommending patients to fight back with fitness.

Fitness programs have long been used for preventing health problems. Now, a young breast cancer survivor is sharing how it helps with healing, and it’s all backed by science.

“I just felt a lump in the shower one day,” said Cindy Oliver, breast cancer survivor.

That lump she discovered put her on a long road to recovery for an aggressive form of breast cancer.

“Which is triple negative breast cancer,” said Oliver.

After surgery and treatment, Cindy, who’s just 37 years old, was told her body was cancer free. But due to the after effects, her breast surgeon referred her to Ohio’s Activate Brain and Body.

“I did notice that I was suffering from what they call chemo brain. [It’s] like the brain fog, like my memory wasn’t as sharp,” said Oliver.

Activate is one of the first fitness facilities in the country to design “sports medicine” programs. It pairs physical workouts with brain workouts at the same time.

“In the simple gist of it, you have to elevate the heartrate. A lot of magical things happen in the brain, and then from that point on, you have to challenge your brain in a new way,” said Chief Exercise Science Officer at Activate Brain and Body Adam Ortman.

Ortman said that he sees evidence every day here. He said it helps back up what a recent study by the National Institutes of Health showed. That this type of workout can not only keep an illness from coming back or getting worse, but it can also help those such as Cindy realize that while they can’t change a tough diagnosis, there’s still things you can do.

“I need to do these types of exercises to reduce risk of recurrence,” said Oliver.

“There are things that you can do, and the earlier you start, the better it’s going to be long term,” said Ortman.

For Cindy, it’s been life changing.

“The physical, the cognitive, the social, it’s all helping me reduce that risk of recurrence that I still think about,” said Oliver.

For ideal results, you usually need to work the body and brain about six to 12 months. Group sessions as opposed to one on one training can help control costs.