BY DENNIS CHASE
TRAVERSE CITY -- Amy Kostrzewa's spirits soared as she neared the finish line in the Vasa 27K classic ski race.
"I didn't know what to expect," said Kostrzewa, 49, of the event last February. "When I came around that last corner I felt this great sense of pure joy at being out there and knowing that I still had the physical fitness to do this event."
Two months earlier, Kostrzewa, a pediatric anesthesiologist at Mott Children's Hospital, was completing treatment for breast cancer.
"I had chemo, major surgery, radiation," the former Traverse City resident said. "I was told the previous summer that I shouldn't plan on skiing because the surgery was so extensive. I didn't like the sounds of that at all. I didn't want to miss a winter of skiing. I love to cross-country ski. Life is too short. You can't let these things go by."
Kostrzewa, who hopes to compete in the Vasa again in two weeks, used skiing as a goal.
"Just to be here and cross the finish line is a victory for me like you can't believe," she said after last year's race.
Ernie Brumbaugh also used skiing as a recovery motivator. The Rockford resident, one of just six skiers to compete in every Vasa, suffered a heart attack in late 2007.
"I'm lucky it happened at work," said Brumbaugh, 63, an Amway chemist. "They called 911, which went through the security office (at Amway). They sent their unit down and they had their defibrillator paddles out in a couple minutes. They brought me back."
Blockages were discovered and stents inserted. Quick response prevented heart damage, though Brumbaugh, who has a brother in Traverse City, came down with pneumonia from aspirating during the attack.
Brumbaugh was back on the trails less than two months later. He entered the 27K Noquemanon in Marquette, the 10K White Pine Stampede in Antrim County and the Vasa -- all on consecutive weekends. A couple weeks later, he skied the Birkebeiner 50K in Wisconsin.
Amazing?
"Some people might think so, but I felt good," he said. "The doctor said there was no heart damage, no brain damage. I was already in good shape. I probably could have raced harder, but I was holding back because I didn't know what to expect.
"Skiing was definitely a big motivator."
Brumbaugh said his health is "great" these days, and there's no reason to doubt him. He raced in the Noquemanon on Saturday and is signed up for the White Pine next weekend and the Vasa the week after.
"It was harder on my wife than me," Brumbaugh said of his health scare. "She used to wake up in the middle of the night to make sure I was still breathing."
Brumbaugh said he was fortunate.
"There was not much to overcome," he said. "Cancer survivors have had a much harder time than I have."
Kostrzewa, who has two brothers in Traverse City, said she's had a "rough" two years, and not just with her health.
Her sister died two years ago and her mother died in December.
"There's sadness, but you have to keep living, too," she said.
When she skied the Vasa last February, Kostrzewa did so with her sister's memory in mind.
Then, in March, Kostrzewa underwent another surgery.
"That was planned, fully expected," she said. "That was another thing about the Vasa last year; that was my window of opportunity to get the activity in before the next surgery."
The Northville resident, who is training for the Birkebeiner in late February, experienced complications from the March surgery and that held her back until September.
Kostrzewa, aided by her husband's support, said she feels fine now.
"I'm happy to say that there have been no further problems with cancer, and that is behind me now as far as I'm concerned," she said. "May it stay that way."
And skiing will continue to be a big part of her life.
Kostrzewa recently came up to ski the Vasa trail for a couple days and she's planning a ski trip to Ironwood next week.
"I feel I now have the health and ability to get back to the things I love doing," she said. "Hopefully, this can be an inspiration for other people who might be facing a problem, an obstacle. I know I used the stories of other people who inspired me. I didn't get through this on my own."
