“But something always came upcollege, marriage, our first child.
And then I found myself face-to-face with cancer.”
Always “the chubby kid” growing up, Kidd had struggled with weight for most of her life.
“I felt like I was in a really bad after-school special,” she says.
She had surgery to remove her thyroid gland and one of her lymph nodes.
She finished her first half marathon in March 2011.
The canyon is one of them."
“They want their groove back.”
During that first day in the canyon, the hikers would push themselves to their limits.
A nurse, a paramedic, two EMTs and a combat medic accompanied them.
In the climbing temperatures, the hikers swigged electrolyte-replacement drinks hourly to stave off dehydration.
Two hikers had opted out of Day 2.
“I don’t think I can go one more step,” she told Mike.
“I am really worried about tomorrow.”
Later, Mike said he never doubted her.
“She has talked her way through a heck of a lot of pain.
If I thought she would heed my counsel, I probably would have told her to drop out.
But Kidd said, “I’ve been sick off and on all the time.
It is so hard to ask for more help.
I struggle with being a burden.”
Kidd set off up the path.
“When I get tired, it triggers memories of being sick,” she said.
“I have to take deep breaths and not let my thoughts run away from me.”
But she was determined.
The night before, Benincasa had called her an endurance athlete.
Kidd clung to the label like a prize.
“All I ever wanted was to be called an athlete,” she said.
“I was always the last one picked for kickball.”
“The goal of this challenge is for people to discover how amazing they are,” Benincasa said.
“We can facilitate the hike, but they do it,” she said.
“You cannot just get up off the couch and do this.”
“I just can’t take the nausea,” Kidd said, downing water to combat the heat.
As the group crossed the Colorado River, Benincasa turned and hooked Kidd onto the towline.
She did not protest.
Finally, the group hit the canyon’s legendary rock formations.
A hawk glided through the air below.
Back on the trail, no one even stepped out of sight to pee anymore.
They were without shame, bonded in the awesome surroundingsand exhaustion.
She grinned in the golden light as the others surrounded her and whooped for joy.
“I feel as if I am becoming the real me,” she said.
“I always wanted to be an athlete, but illness got in the way.”
“I am so tired of letting dreams go, out of fear,” she said.
But I’m less angry.
When there are things you want to do and cancer holds you back, you feel angry.
Now I’ve had this experience, and it replenishes this tank inside me.
It is not always easy to do that.”
That night, Kidd danced under the stars during the group’s farewell dinner.
She’d already vowed to return to the canyon next June as a mentor.
“I learned to trust in other people and myself.
I know I could conquer anything I set my mind to.
I would love to have someone else feel as invincible as I do.”
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Photo Credit: John Waller
