Helene Neville, a聽grandmother and聽registered nurse, completed a 9,715-mile run,聽over more than 330 nonconsecutive days,聽around the perimeter of the United States earlier this month, finishing in Ocean Shores, Washington,聽.
The 55-year-old started her unsupported聽journey around the country聽in 2010. She did it in stages:聽First, she ran from Ocean Beach, California, to Atlantic Beach, Florida. Over the next five years, she ran from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Tijuana, Mexico, and聽from聽Marathon, Florida, to Portland, Maine. Neville started the last leg of her journey in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and finished 3,680 miles later in Ocean Shores, Washington.
Neville started running after overcoming Hodgkin鈥檚 lymphoma in the early 1990s. She used her first run across the U.S. to inspire other nurses to be better ambassadors for healthy living, frequently stopping in hospitals and cancer centers to visit health care workers and patients.
“Shortly into the run it became 'she鈥檚 a cancer survivor,' 'she鈥檚 over 50,'聽and people started to take notice and become inspired,”聽Neville told 国产吃瓜黑料. “What started out as a way to get nurses healthy became more about everybody.”
Toward the end of the last stage of the journey, Neville learned her cancer had returned, but she said that the diagnosis wasn鈥檛 going to slow her down.
“I think that if you stop or slow down, then you might as well sit down or fall down,”聽she said. “I just want to lead by example and show that, no matter what you have going on, there鈥檚 always someone worse off and you鈥檙e still in a position to inspire someone.”
Neville said she鈥檚 been approached with book and movie deals about the journey and plans to retrace her steps鈥攖his time by car鈥攖o visit those who took her in along the way or cheered her on to keep moving.