February 6, 2003
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Quiet heroism…
Anyone who pushes through obstacles and adversity to display commitment and excellence is a hero to me.
My neighbor Dee Dee Jonrowe qualifies in many ways. Back in the eighties, when Libby Riddles won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and then Susan Butcher started a streak that made it look as if no man would ever win again, Dee Dee was out there, usually running well back with the pack. Then she and her dogs got better and better, faster and faster. I’m not the sort of fan who memorizes stats. I just know she has been racing a long time and had a few recent decent finishes.
Then she had a run of hard times. Her truck was wrecked, she was hurt and a family member killed, but she mushed on. After last year’s race, and a run in the Mount Marathon foot race, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. As it says in the article linked below:
“DeeDee Jonrowe’s memory is shot, and so are her taste buds. For a while, she was so weak she couldn’t close her hands into a fist. But atop her head is a fuzzy coating of newly emerging hair, a look trendy enough that a stranger recently mistook it for a hip haircut. Two weeks after completing a grueling course of chemotherapy to combat breast cancer, Jonrowe, 49, said she is climbing out of a long ordeal that included a double mastectomy, treatments that lasted longer than originally anticipated and a loss of strength and stamina that limited her ability to function as one of Alaska’s leading dog mushers. And now she’s ready for another challenge: running the 2003 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.”
Anchorage Daily News | Jonrowe fights through cancer for Iditarod run
Go Dee Dee!
Comments (8)
and on top of that, look at that GRIN!
Oh wow! I’ll have to show this to my girls.
wow she is a real hero
anybody that can make a dog do what they want — much less a dozen of ‘em — is a hero in my book…. but she sounds like a superhero!
wow how amazing is that? Applauding!!! Hugs.. Rose
I’ll be interested to hear how she does.
After breast cancer and the treatments, really…she’s done her hardest race. Anything from now on is a walk in the park. I just found my ‘peach fuzz’ pic the other day. Funny how you forget/block some things but cling to others.
I just love the smile…just love it.
I wish her luck…in everything.
Wow, inspirational!
Great post. Anyone who finishes that race is a champion. People like this woman force us to create new words. I wish I knew what was a step above “heroic champion.”