Duke Neurosurgery’s focus on wellness among faculty and staff has meant that more and more in the department are taking up running. And sometimes, they find themselves running into brain tumor survivors, as Department Chair John Sampson, MD, PhD, did at the Angels Among Us 5K in 2018. He finished the race alongside Tom O’Donnell, a nine-year survivor treated at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke, for which the race raises funds.
Later, O’Donnell would cross paths with Barbara Campbell, BSN, a patient navigator at Duke Neurosurgery, at the Boston Marathon, of all places.
“I had always wanted to run, but I didn’t stick to it,” say O’Donnell, who started running when he was first diagnosed. “I thought if I am not going to dedicate myself now, then when?” he says. A slightly alarmed physician assistant for his neurosurgeon, Allan Friedman, MD, told O’Donnell “no more than a mile and not by yourself,” because of his weakened left side.
He started longer runs, to be as strong as possible, and soon asked his neuro-oncologist Katy Peters, MD, PhD, if he could run a marathon. She told him to give her directions to the finish line.
“When the folks who are taking care of you are that in invested in you, it is powerful,” O’Donnell says. His inspiration continues because over the past nine years of his running, he has seen his health team become increasingly more serious about their own exercise and in suggesting it to other patients, for both aerobic and mental benefits.
John Sampson
As a neurosurgeon and researcher, Sampson took a very scientific approach to running, weight loss, and wellness. “I looked at getting healthier as a complex problem to be solved,” says Sampson. “I saw that often people failed when they took on high levels of exercise and a rigid diet all at once.”
Sampson approached wellness with a different kind of program. “I wanted to develop new habits, and I wanted to run, so I began with small, achievable goals.” That led to a 60-pound weight loss.
“Almost anyone can jog for 10 seconds and then walk for 20 seconds,” Sampson says. This is how he began toward a goal of 30 minutes for a 5K run, which he has now exceeded at under 24 minutes.
Barbara Campbell
Campbell needed a new goal after completing her nursing degree. Her husband, an ultra-long-distance runner, suggested competitive running. Campbell signed up with a local Fleet Feet training program, which took her from short runs to many marathon and ultra-marathon finish lines.
O’Donnell was excited to see Campbell at the Boston Marathon they were both running; she was moved to meet up with him out of all of the people in town.
Tom O’Donnell
O’Donnell has now signed up for his 25th marathon -- the Tobacco Road marathon, site of his first. He runs for other patients, his health care team, and himself and family.
He has even trained with another patient who wanted to complete a 100-mile race. They did a long training run at a late hour. “Two brain cancer patients running in the middle of the night, what could go wrong?” he jokes. The inspired patient finished the race.
O’Donnell has run after three surgeries and during treatments like radiation therapy. He says that he believes his physical strength through running is a benefit on a par with chemotherapy. “I have to be in the best shape of my life,” he says.
In the photo: John Sampson, left, and Tom O'Donnell at the Angels Among Us 5K, April 2018