Pueblo woman uses exercise to recover from cancer

A Pueblo woman became a cancer survivor, but now she has another battle she’s facing: recovery.

Nola Long fought skin cancer in her throat. She went through radiation therapy to get rid of it, but now she has to deal with the after effects.

“I lost 25 pounds. My strength deteriorated and once you lose fat, you are also losing muscle,” she said.

That’s where St. Mary Corwin Medical Center came in. Long is part of the Cancer Fit program at the hospital.

The program helps people who survived cancer and uses exercise as a treatment in the recovery process.

“It takes a lot out of people between the surgeries, the chemotherapy, the radiation; so many people end up with side effects like fatigue, weakness that they incurred,” physical therapist Janet Dennis said.

As for Long, she said it’s going to be a long road to recovery, but she is going to take it one step at a time.

St. Mary Corwin said it has helped more than a 100 people with the Cancer Fit program.